Within the first episode of Euphoria, Zendaya’s Rue introduces Fezco O’Neill as somebody who’s “not often revolving in the identical route as planet Earth.” He’s a strolling contradiction—each dealing the medicine to which Rue is addicted and pleading along with her to cease taking them. However throughout two seasons of the Emmy-winning HBO drama, it turned clear that tablets weren’t the one issues drawing Rue again into Fezco’s orbit.
That was because of the hanging efficiency of Angus Cloud, who died this week at age 25. “As an artist, a pal, a brother and a son, Angus was particular to all of us in so some ways,” his household stated in an announcement. “Final week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss. The one consolation we have now is figuring out Angus is now reunited together with his dad, who was his finest pal. Angus was open about his battle with psychological well being and we hope that his passing could be a reminder to others that they don’t seem to be alone and shouldn’t struggle this on their very own in silence.”
Euphoria discovered Cloud nearly accidentally. A casting director found him strolling down the road in Manhattan, plucking Cloud out of his job as a waiter and into the trickiest function in a significant sequence. “There was nobody fairly like Angus,” Euphoria creator Sam Levinson stated in an announcement. “He was too particular, too proficient and method too younger to go away us so quickly. He additionally struggled, like many people, with habit and melancholy. I hope he knew what number of hearts he touched. I liked him. I all the time will.”
Regardless of Cloud’s rising star, he had no want to be well-known—and stated as a lot in a 2022 podcast look. “I wish to be an everyday particular person and have common interactions with individuals. And one thing about fame and notoriety, you lose that,” he defined. Cloud’s actions bore that philosophy out. When directed to present out Fezco’s telephone quantity in a scene, Cloud freely recited his precise quantity, as proven in a season 2 blooper reel. He instructed Rolling Stone that the primary time he was acknowledged by a fan, they requested, “Hey, are you from Euphoria?” Cloud responded, “No, I’m from Oakland. However I used to be within the present, yeah.”
To listen to Cloud inform it, he wasn’t meant to be on the sequence for lengthy. “Apparently, he was alleged to die within the first couple of episodes,” the actor instructed The Hollywood Reporter of his character. Fezco not solely survived, however turned an irresistible pressure even amongst a stacked solid. He acquired a much-needed showcase in season two’s premiere, “Attempting To Get to Heaven Earlier than They Shut the Door.” The episode defined how Fezco’s iron-willed grandmother (Kathrine Narducci) rescued him from an abusive father, but in addition indoctrinated him into the world of drug-dealing. These outdated childhood wounds lived on by way of Fezco’s freckled face, behind Cloud’s piercing blue eyes, in a scar tracing the left facet of his scalp.
How lovely it was, then, to see Fezco unburdened in his scenes with Maude Apatow’s Lexi. “He’s so considerate and curious, and he’s such an ideal listener,” Apatow instructed me final 12 months of working with Cloud. “That’s uncommon generally, simply to have somebody who is actually proper there with you.” After assembly cute at a seedy New 12 months’s Eve celebration–two teenagers content material to be wallflowers on the orgy—tentative romance ensues. Fezco and Lexi maintain palms as they watch the film Stand By Me, tearfully singing throughout the finish credit. She confides in him about her upcoming play. He daydreams about rising as much as be a farmer, “some Little Home on the Prairie shit.” For just a few fleeting moments, Fezco considers the chance that he may truly get to be joyful.
