Warning: Spoilers ahead for Euphoria Season 3, Episode 7.
Euphoria sent Nate Jacobs out with one of the show’s most disturbing sequences yet, and Jacob Elordi is already talking about filming his character’s final scene.
In the May 24 episode of Season 3, Nate was buried alive in a coffin after his debt to gangster Naz caught up with him. A rattlesnake entered through the air pipe and attacked him before Cassie Howard, played by Sydney Sweeney, and Maddy Perez, played by Alexa Demie, later found his body, according to People.
The death landed hard because Nate has been one of Euphoria’s most controversial characters since the HBO drama premiered in 2019. Viewers have spent years watching him lie, threaten, manipulate, and hurt people around him, but the coffin sequence pushed the show into full horror rather than a simple villain exit.
Nate Jacobs Died in a Coffin After a Snake Attack
The penultimate episode of Season 3 brought Nate’s storyline to a violent end after a season built around debt, fear, and consequences. Entertainment Weekly reported that Nate was trapped in a buried coffin before a rattlesnake entered through the air pipe and killed him.
The scene did not leave much room for ambiguity. Cassie and Maddy later found Nate’s body, confirming that Elordi’s character was gone before the Season 3 finale.
It was a bleak ending for one of the show’s most discussed figures. Nate had been central to some of Euphoria’s ugliest conflicts, and the episode turned his usual control and intimidation into a situation where he had none left.
Fans Were Stunned by the Brutal Exit
Viewer reaction was immediate after the episode aired. Page Six reported that fans reacted with disbelief to the coffin-and-snake death, with some calling the sequence horrifying even if they had never viewed Nate as sympathetic.
That split reaction fits the character. Nate was violent, manipulative, and frightening across the show’s earlier seasons, but Elordi’s performance kept him from feeling like a flat villain. The episode forced viewers to watch a character many wanted punished receive an ending staged as prolonged panic rather than quick justice.
Sam Levinson Connected the Death to the Season’s Consequences
Creator Sam Levinson has discussed the death in terms of consequences. In a separate Page Six report, Levinson defended the decision to kill Nate in such a horrific way.
Esquire reported that Levinson framed Season 3 through a darker, more lawless world after the characters left high school, where the consequences are more severe. The coffin scene followed that logic by turning Nate’s money trouble and power games into a trap he could not talk his way out of.
The snake detail also had a production split between what viewers saw and what Elordi filmed. Esquire reported that the onscreen setup involved rattlesnakes, while the close-up coffin work used a non-venomous lookalike after the snake entered Nate’s air pipe.
Jacob Elordi Called the Ending Bittersweet
Elordi spoke about the scene in a behind-the-scenes segment that aired after the episode. According to People, he described being placed inside the coffin with his shoulders touching the sides while the lid was drilled on.
The actor also explained that the production used a boa constrictor with a fake rattler attached for part of the coffin work. Entertainment Weekly reported that Elordi found the snake “super cute,” even though he said the rattling sounds were alarming while he was locked in the box.
Elordi called Nate’s exit “bittersweet” and reflected on how much Euphoria has meant to his career and life since the series began. He also said the death felt like a fitting endpoint for a character who had made so many dark choices.
The Death Sets Up the Season 3 Finale
Nate’s death arrived one episode before the Season 3 finale, which airs May 31 on HBO. People reported that Nate became the first major character to die in the season.
The timing matters because Nate was not a side character being removed for a quick jolt. He was one of Euphoria’s defining figures, and Elordi’s performance helped make him one of modern teen television’s most debated antagonists.
Removing him this close to the finale leaves Cassie, Maddy, Rue, and the rest of the surviving characters to deal with the fallout from a season that has pushed the show further into crime, violence, and horror.
The Shock Comes From More Than the Death Itself
Television deaths can feel cheap when they exist only to jolt the audience, but Nate’s exit carried the weight of the show’s long history with him. His story had always been tied to control, shame, violence, and image. The coffin scene stripped those things away and left him trapped in the kind of fear he had often created for other people.
That does not make the sequence easy to watch. It may be one of the most upsetting scenes Euphoria has staged, which is saying plenty for a series already known for emotional chaos and visual intensity.
Whether fans read Nate’s death as justice, excess, or both, the episode gave Euphoria one of its biggest Season 3 talking points days before the finale.