Euphoria surprised viewers by killing off Nate Jacobs — but how did Jacob Elordi‘s character die on screen?
Season 3 of the hit HBO show followed Nate as he struggled with the debt he owed to an Armenian mobster. He had several body parts chopped off while trying to find the money to clear up his issues. Nate even got his wife, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney), involved and she started to make money on OnlyFans to support him.
During the Sunday, May 24, episode of Euphoria, Cassie was told she had 72 hours to get $1 million to save Nate. Viewers saw that he was trapped in a box underground and would soon die from dehydration. While Cassie was trying to find the money to free Nate, a snake entered his box and appeared to attack him.
Later in the episode, Cassie — with help from Maddy (Alexa Demie) and Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) arrived to save Nate. The only problem? He was already dead after several fatal bites from the rattlesnake.
“That was a cool way to go. Nate was someone who has made so many mistakes and made so many dark choices,” Elordi explained in a segment that aired after the Sunday, May 24, episode. “It’s cool to see it all come to what it’s come to.”
Elordi recalled having to film in a coffin, adding, “My shoulders were touching the side and they couldn’t move my arms. Then they would drill the lid on it and it would get dark. It was really nice, actually. It was quite peaceful in there.”
The stunt team, meanwhile, stressed how important it was to make sure the actor had oxygen. They praised Elordi for agreeing to spend “minimal time in the coffin.” Viewers may be surprised, however, to find out that creator Sam Levinson “wanted to shoot it with a real snake” so a rattlesnake and a boa constrictor were both featured on screen.
“Snakes were rattling, which was really alarming when you are locked in a box,” Elordi noted. “They had a boa constrictor that they put a fake rattler on the end of it.”
He continued: “He was super cute. He was really cuddly. So he kind of just sidled up next to me and it was nice. But he was really sleepy. He was a sleepy snake. I had to kind of nudge him to get him to come up. And that was it.”
At the end of the segment, Elordi reflected on his time playing Nate.
“It’s a bittersweet thing,” he said. “This show is a massive part of — not just my career — but my life. It’s been amazing and I’m so proud of being a part of this.”
Elordi has played Nate since the show premiered in 2019. Before the show returned, Elordi teased how viewers would meet Nate again in the third and likely final season.
“I finished filming a new season just recently, and it’s a completely different thing,” he shared on a December 2025 episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors interview. “I really do think [he will be nicer].”
Elordi continued: “Whether it works or not — I don’t know. There’s a chance that what I’ve done is not good.”
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