According to Javon Walton, the ‘Euphoria’ finale was meant to have a very different ending

By now you’ve seen the season two finale of Euphoria and if you haven’t well then please anticipate spoilers (although I would recommend going to watch the actual ending first for context).

Euphoria, the controversial show that sexualises teens but also gives incredible insight into the psyche of teens and the complexity of drug addiction came to close last night with the end of Lexi’s play. There was an on-stage fight, Rue and Jules made up (kinda), Fezco missed the performance and yes two people died.

And it really doesn’t look good for fan favourite brothers Fezco and Ash. It turns out that the sneak peek from last week of Fez’s face was less about physical pain and more about the emotional one as it appears the finale was the last for Ashtray.

In summary, Fez missed Lexi’s performance because Custer shows up, apparently trying to get Fez to admit to killing Mouse while carrying a wire-tapped phone. Fez confesses nothing and Ash quickly picks up that something is wrong. Ash stands up and stabs Custer in the neck, killing him.

With the cops on their way, Fez wants to take the blame for Custer’s death and go quietly but Ash holes himself up in the bathroom with a gun instead, determined on a shout out, which he gets, accidentally injuring Fez in the process. Police raid and as Fez is being arrested it looks like Ash is killed off-screen as police break down the bathroom door and shoot.

Alternative ending

But it turns out, Ashtray’s presumable death wasn’t the original ending creator Sam Levinson had planned. Javon Walton (who plays Ashtray) told Esquire that in the earlier drafts, it was originally meant to be Fez who died in the police raid.

 I wonder if the viral success of #Fexi on social media had any influence on the survival of Angus Cloud’s character. Cloud and Maude Apatow have been certainly playing into this new fan-favourite couple, rocking up to the Thom Browne New York Fashion Week show in matching outfits and regularly shouting out each other on Instagram.

And then we can’t be so sure that Ashtray is actually dead. It happened off-screen, which always implies that it’s not meant to be a done deal and the actor himself doesn’t know. “Man, I just hope he’s alive,” Walton tells Esquire. “Because I’m sure he didn’t just get shot one time by taking cover in the bathtub and getting shot through the wall.” He also said that if Ashtray has played his last part in Euphoria, Walton admits it would have a hard time watching the third season, especially watching his friends continue on without him.

We and Walton will have to wait and see what happens to Ashtray in the third season of Euphoria but it’s going to be a long wait. The third season isn’t due to hit screens until late 2023 or early 2024.