The third — and likely final — season of “Euphoria” is a case study in excess. It is the Artemis II of TV shows, going so far over the top it passes the Moon before crashing back down to Earth. What was once an eye-catching clique of wayward teens bathed in purple hues has metamorphosed into a barren hellscape rife with drug-smuggling cartels, pistol-packin’ pimps, sugar daddies with mummification kinks and online streamers. These kids certainly ain’t in high school anymore and feel untethered to what once was.
Part of the reason for this evolution is that the two forces that were keeping Sam Levinson’s embattled protagonist, Rue (Zendaya), grounded in reality have been either entirely (her younger sister Gia, played by Storm Reid) or largely (her mother Leslie, brought to life by Nika King) written off the show. Leslie’s absence has been the more jarring for viewers, since Rue has mentioned over and over how adrift at sea she feels being estranged from her mother, and the phone calls she keeps placing for her. In Sunday’s sixth episode of the season, titled “Stand Still and See,” we finally caught an oh-so-brief glimpse of Leslie on the other line.
Rue had just received a lifeline in the form an incriminating exchange she’d recorded on her phone between Alamo (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Laurie (Martha Kelly) about smuggling fentanyl in ambulances from Mexico to the U.S. — enough intel to get her off the hook with the DEA. She was also slapped into another dimension by Jules (Hunter Schafer) after lobbing several insults at her about Jules’ whole sugar baby situation. And so, Rue finds herself in a church pew, praying for forgiveness. She calls her mom. “I love you so much, and I’m sorry if I made it harder. I didn’t really realize how tough it is to be out here by yourself,” Rue tells Leslie. “I know I’m not alone. I know that. But yeah, I’ll — I’m coming home soon.”
And then, for the first time all season, we see Leslie on the other line. “I love you Rue,” Leslie replies, before solemnly looking out the window.
Nika King as Leslie in Season 3 of “Euphoria.”
HBO
It’s a blink-and-you’ll miss it scene, and its brevity caught not only King, who plays Leslie, by surprise, but her mother too. On Sunday evening, just after the episode aired, King posted a hilarious clip to her Instagram of her mother, Sharon, “clowning” her over how short the scene was, asking, “What happened?” and joking that the internet waited “three years” just to see her utter a single line.
“My mom is my best friend. She’s seen me go through the ups and downs of the industry, and she’s always trying to make me laugh and make me see that it’s not the end of the world,” King tells Variety. “I had told her what I did, and I was looking forward to seeing it, and when we saw it together, she was looking at me like, ‘What happened?’ I thought that was a funny moment to share with my followers, and to see the dynamic between my mom and I.”
That dynamic between King and her mom, who she calls “the real comedian of the family,” helped her so vividly capture the plight of Leslie, a mother desperately trying to get through to her daughter as she falls deeper and deeper into drug addiction.
“My mom was an addict when I grew up, so I’m always holding on to this memory of helplessness. It’s easy for me to channel that,” King says. “The dynamic between Rue and Leslie is very similar to my mom and I.”
Things finally changed for the better when King’s mother was given a choice: get clean or your kids are going into foster care. It served as a harsh reality check for Sharon, who’d grown up in foster care herself after her mother was murdered when she was just a child.
“She went through the world without having a biological mom,” says King. “She was fostered by a pastor and his wife, but it wasn’t the best situation. My mom went to rehab after she was told that if she didn’t get clean, she was going to lose her kids. That was the turning point for her. It’s been a long process for us to get to this place.”
King grew up in Miami, and didn’t know she wanted to become an actor until she went to college. Though she’d enrolled with an eye on physical therapy, she took an acting class and immediately thought, “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” She subsequently moved to Los Angeles and dove head-first into the comedy world, from sketch comedy and stand-up to studying improv at The Groundlings. King appeared in “Hannah Montana” and “2 Broke Girls,” as well as “Wanda Sykes Presents Herlarious”; hosted a monthly comedy show at the Improv called “Nika King and Friends!”; and was a member of Elite Delta Force 3 (EDF3), a sketch comedy group of all Black women alongside Robin Thede and Nefetari Spencer.
But it was the role of Leslie in “Euphoria” that really changed the game for her.
“That was the breakout role, because it was so different than I was used to as a dramatic role,” King says. “It put me on a different path. People seeing me in that role definitely surprised them, and it kind of surprised me, too. I didn’t realize I could do such deep work, but being across from Storm, Z, and Colman [Domingo], you really need to up your game.”
King auditioned for the role of Leslie in May 2018, and was only given a brief description of her character as a strong, loving mother dealing with a daughter battling drug addiction. She didn’t really think she had a chance at it given the competition at the audition.
“I saw every actress that I grew up watching in the waiting room, so I thought, yeah, I’m never going to get this,” says King. “I saw Garcelle Beauvais in there, and Jill Marie Jones.”
To King’s surprise, she soon got a call from her agent telling her that she was on hold for the project, and that she would be playing Zendaya’s mom. Then, she was rushed right into a chemistry read with Zendaya, whom she describes as “real cool and laid-back.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
The second season of “Euphoria” premiered in January 2022, and its third season bowed in April 2026. During the lengthy hiatus between Seasons 2 and 3, King went home to Florida and helped her mom — a former postal worker — run her restaurant, Blue Tree Cafe Vegan Soul Food, which has been up and cooking in Fort Lauderdale since 2007. She also kept performing sets at comedy clubs. During those sets, King addressed how fans would keep coming up to her and asking when “Euphoria” Season 3 would come out, joking that she “didn’t fuckin’ know” and needs it to come back because she “hadn’t paid my rent in six months!” The clip went viral:
“As long as we had been on hiatus, I was doing that joke. And it just happened to go viral!” King says. “It wasn’t even a finished joke; it was still in the lab being worked out. But everything happens the way it’s supposed to. It brought attention to the real journey of an actor. I’m not a celebrity or superstar: I’m a working actor.”
King does feel bad about how the joke was “misconstrued” and taken literally by the media, versus something she’d clearly said in jest.
“I’m in a comedy club telling a joke. It was a realization for me that I was on a different level in terms of visibility, and how a joke can get twisted and become misaligned with my creativity,” she says.
After the clip went viral, King was told that she would not be returning for the third season of “Euphoria.”
“My third-year contract option was terminated; they told me they were going to go in a different direction,” she says. “And then, after they started filming Season 3 last year, I got a call saying, ‘Hey, we want to bring you in to do a few episodes.’”
Some phone calls and emails were exchanged, and a few days later King was on a plane to Los Angeles. She says she filmed for one day and shot material for two episodes, meaning she may pop up in another episode this season — though she’s not exactly sure how much of her you’ll see.
“Sam is always rewriting and shaping episodes, and he’s always kept the scripts pretty secret, so you only know what you’re filming the day-of. So, I don’t know,” King says. “But I love Leslie. I will ride or die for her. Everyone has a mom and is familiar with that dynamic. Leslie is praying for Rue to get her stuff together. And even though the storyline had jumped to where they’re no longer in high school, I think the mom and the sister are pivotal characters relative to Rue’s sobriety and mental health.”
These days, King is helping her mother run her vegan restaurant in Fort Lauderdale — they’re currently gearing up for a summer program where they feed around 400 kids from underserved communities — and teaching acting classes at Kim Houston Acting Studios in nearby Hollywood, Florida. She’s also prepping her second comedy special, and is keen to tackle more dramatic parts like Leslie.
“It’s such a great role, and great starting point to a dramatic career, so I want to do roles that are on that same playing field or level of storytelling,” King says. “Like stories involving people overcoming great obstacles.”