Euphoria creator Sam Levinson opened up about sending Angus Cloud to rehab for drug use twice while working on the show. Sam, 38, spoke about staging an intervention for the actor and trying to get him help in an interview with People, published on Monday, September 25. He opened up about Angus alongside the late actor’s mom Lisa and co-star Zendaya, paying tribute to him.
More details have slowly been coming out about Angus’ death at 25 on July 31. The coroner’s report revealed that the actor died from an accidental overdose of a lethal combination of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, and more, according to TMZ.
In the interview, Sam revealed that he held an intervention for Angus between the first and second seasons. “I looked him in the eye and I knew that he wasn’t doing well,” he said. “At the same time I’ve been in these situations before where you’re trying to get someone clean. And I just said to him, ‘I love working with you and we’ve got this amazing season planned and stuff, but I need you to be sober because I got to be able to rely on you.”
The creator revealed that Angus entered a 30-day treatment program, which HBO paid for, and afterward, he began a three-month-long outpatient treatment. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be taking. “I could always feel that he didn’t want [sobriety] as much as we all wanted it for him,” he explained to the outlet. “That’s where it gets tricky because the whole world can want it for you. But he didn’t want it. It’s just the self-destructive side of addiction and it outweighs everything.”
Sam also recalled taking Angus to rehab after he relapsed again while working on season two. He said that he told Angus, “You’ve got to get help and you’ve got to get help right now.” He said that during the ride Angus compared himself to the character Rue, and they both found some “levity” in the situation. “All right, well, do us a favor and don’t run,” Sam said he told him.
Sam explained that he wouldn’t “give up” on Angus. He said that he wouldn’t let the actor on set if he wasn’t sober, and he said that he went to his home to speak about getting sober ahead of season three. “I could tell, at that time, it was like he wasn’t interested. He wasn’t going to do anything, and yeah, he didn’t want it,” he told the outlet. He also explained that Angus’ character was originally meant to be killed off during each season, but each time, he decided not to, because he wanted to keep working with the actor.