Donald Glover gives an interesting review of HBO’s hit series Euphoria, revealing his true feelings on the show and Zendaya’s career. Glover is a jack-of-all-trades known for his stand-up comedy, a musical career under his stage name Childish Gambino, and his work as co-creator and star of FX’s acclaimed series Atlanta, which had the premiere of its third season in late March. Glover’s entertainment career shows no signs of waning, with the artist signing an eight-figure contract with Amazon back in 2021 as part of a multi-year deal to produce content for the streamer, including a TV series that had Malia Obama in the writer’s room. Suffice to say, Glover has experience in the vast reaches of the entertainment industry, which includes the media that he chooses to consume.
From showrunner Sam Levinson, Euphoria is a relatively new phenomenon, premiering on HBO in 2019 to critical acclaim for its unique cinematography, stellar acting, stylized costuming, and intense storylines centering around a high school drug addict. In between seasons, the show’s star, Zendaya, worked with Levinson on his film Malcom & Marie (2021) which didn’t fare as well as Euphoria‘s original success. Euphoria season 2 became defined by drama behind the camera, almost outshining the drama portrayed on screen when the season aired in early 2022. The second season was dominated by a love triangle, but it also followed Rue’s (Zendaya) attempts and failures to get clean, and the path of destruction that she created in her wake.
In an intimate chat for Interview magazine, Glover interviewed himself and opened up about his feelings on the show’s merit and Zendaya’s potential career path. In the process, Glover begins comparing watching media to consuming food and compares Euphoria to a “really good butterflied chicken in the restaurant attached to an old hotel.” He goes on to say that food like that makes you feel really good because it’s so rich, but that after a while you start to feel like you’re missing something. Glover expands on his previous statement and specifically references showrunner Sam [Levinson,] saying that Zendaya should move on and leave him. Glover’s full back-and-forth with himself can be read below:
What food is Euphoria?
A really good butterflied chicken in the restaurant attached to an old hotel having a resurgence. It tastes really good and you feel guilty eating it because it’s got foie gras. But after going there for six months, you realize you always leave a little hungry.
You like Euphoria?
I do, for what it is. But I do think it’s time for Zendaya to choose up and leave Sam to come to Death Row.
Glover’s sentiments echo the familiar occurrence of a show gaining huge popularity when it’s on the air, and then fairly quickly dropping back off audiences’ radars once the finale airs. It thrives off people waiting week-to-week to see how each new episode will outdo the drama of the previous one until it reaches its climax. This season tried to up the ante from the first season with the introduction of a more notorious drug dealer, and it built up to two separate violent altercations in the season finale. It’s unclear what exactly Glover means by saying that Zendaya should “come to Death Row,” but the context implies that Glover believes that she’s outgrown what Levinson can provide and should move on to bigger and better things.
Regardless of Glover’s statement, there’s no denying the popularity and viewership numbers the show has attained, as well as the excitement that fans had when HBO announced that Euphoria had been renewed for a third season. Not to mention that Zendaya has made it clear on her social media how much the show means to her, and how portraying Rue’s struggles on screen has the ability to make people who struggle with addiction feel less isolated in their experiences. Glover and Zendaya are both incredibly talented artists and even if they differ in their opinions of the power a show like Euphoria has, they both still have wildly successful and lengthy careers ahead of themselves.
Source: Interview
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