Angus Cloud on Euphoria’s Highs and Lows

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To date, Angus Cloud only has one credit as a professional actor. For his breakout role, he plays Fezco–usually just Fez–a high school dropout drug dealer in HBO’s dark teen drama Euphoria. His character would be easy to write off as the one responsible for supplying recovering addict Rue Bennett (played by Zendaya) with the drugs that land her in life-threatening circumstances, except that some of the rawest moments of the series are shared with Fez. Amidst Euphoria’s unglamorous yet captivating portrayal of teen drug use, sex, family drama, and digitally driven social lives, Cloud’s character presents yet another dichotomy to unpack.

Despite his questionable profession, Fez has become a fan-favorite of the show, with a sense of morality not usually found in someone whose career is built on exploiting people’s vices. “Just breaking the law doesn’t make you a bad person,” Cloud tells CR, speaking about his character. “The way I see it is that he’s just a regular person. We all do some bad and try to do good, you know what I’m saying?” Like many of the other characters on the show, Fez is more than what meets the eye, and Cloud’s genuine portrayal has perfectly captured how good people can often find themselves in bad circumstances.

In Euphoria, each episode focuses on a specific character, introducing the audience to the backstories of the main figures. With Fez, who’s mostly on the periphery, little is known about his background. He has a sidekick named Ashtray, a middle school-aged little brother figure, and a bedridden grandmother who lives in the house with him, but the rest of his past is a mystery. The closest relationship the audience sees Fez has is with Rue, who confides in him and often seeks him out at her lowest points. It’s through their relationship that the audience sees his kind nature. “[Fez] has known her for a long time,” Cloud says. “He takes care of her because he knows that she’s so young and addicted to these drugs, and he just wants to be there for her.”

This is apparent in several scenes in the first half of the season, during which Fez protects Rue from the dangers of his profession. In the second episode, “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy,” Rue is coerced by Fez’s drug dealer, Mouse, into trying fentanyl–a highly addictive substance that has been linked to the deaths of celebrities such as Prince, Mac Miller, and Lil Peep. When Rue says she doesn’t have the money to pay for the hit, Mouse insinuates that she could compensate him through sexual acts, but Fez steps up and pays him, looking after Rue for the rest of the night. The following episode, Fez refuses to sell Rue drugs, despite her desperate and tearful begging.

These protective moments have made the audience fall for Fez. Fans have taken to Twitter to express their concern for his safety, alleged romantic feelings for Rue, and his uncanny resemblance to Mac Miller, the late rapper who tragically died from a fentanyl overdose last year.

Theories about Fez’s future, or more notably, his past, have also been driving conversation around the show–the presiding one being that Fez is football player Nate Jacobs’ (played by Jacob Elordi) estranged third brother. It may be a stretch, but the key piece of evidence is the family portrait at the Jacobs’ house that pictures a third unknown son. Along with Fez’s largely unaddressed family history, the equation may check out. With two episodes left, Cloud is just as unsure of where the show will take his character for the next season. “We don’t even know from episode to episode,” the actor says. He just has learned to “be there, and be ready for anything.”


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