‘It was kind of just throwing s— at the wall’

Key points

• Jacob Elordi says director Sam Levinson gave him “freedom” on the set of Euphoria season 3.

• “I had no time to get ready for it,” Elordi says. “And I didn’t have scripts in any kind of full sense.”

• “I got to be free in the acting process,” he recalls, “’cause it was kind of just throwing s— at the wall and seeing what would stick.”

Jacob Elordi is detailing the unique freedom he felt shooting Euphoria season 3.

During a conversation on Entertainment Weekly‘s The Awardist podcast, the Frankenstein star explained how working on the upcoming installment of Sam Levinson’s gritty HBO drama was different from his other acting experiences.

“Usually, I would like to obsess over what I was doing and understand what was happening, and have the time to go through every element and construct it and put it together,” Elordi says. “And I had no time to get ready for it. And I didn’t have scripts in any kind of full sense. I sort of just had creative conversations with Sam, so I had no choice.”

Elordi thinks the logistical constraints of shooting season 3 — which will feature a time jump that takes the characters out of high school — helped enhance his performance.

“I was coming off of a plane somewhere, and later I had a small amount of time … to fit in a lot of work,” he recalls. “And so I hit a point where I could only go day by day. I could only do what was handed to me that day, and then try to invent something based on what I know of the character, based on what I see on the set live in front of me.”

But Elordi’s limited prep time actually loosened him up. “Because I had no choice, I got to be free in the acting process, ’cause it was kind of just throwing s— at the wall and seeing what would stick,” he explains. “Less thinking about what feels real and more about, ‘How does this work in the frame?’ Or ‘Is this funny or not funny?’ I had a more relaxed way of approaching playing a character, you know?”

Levinson allowed him to move in whatever direction he saw fit. “Sam basically just gave me the floor, which was a lot of fun,” he says, thought he admits the freedom was also “nerve-wracking.”

Years later, Elordi still holds a tremendous amount of affection for his violent Euphoria character, Nate Jacobs. “I love him,” the actor says. “I act to understand a different experience, to express an experience that’s different to my own. Playing him taught me a lot about empathy and patience, which is strange with a character like that.”

“The luxury to be able to examine a fictional character like that is something that I wish everybody, especially in today’s day and age, could have,” the Saltburn star adds. “Because you can start to do it with the people around you and the people that you don’t really listen to, and people in your life that you judge, or people on the internet that you judge immediately.”

He continues, “If we could all sort of just approach those relationships like an actor breaking down a character, I do think that we’d have, like, a little bit more calm in the world. I can look at everything that he does and maybe not understand it, but I can at the very least empathize.”

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When asked to tease Nate’s primary motivation in season 3, Elordi says it’s to “survive,” adding that the character’s arc will involve “the end of hubris” and “the end of arrogance.”

“It’s a real treat to be a part of that show, and to play the quote-unquote bad guy,” he adds. “It’s always more fun. You don’t wanna play some morally superior, world-saving loser.”

Euphoria season 3 is expected to premiere on HBO in spring 2026. Listen to Elordi’s full conversation with The Awardist above.

Additional reporting by Gerrad Hall.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly