As a gentle, soft-spoken drug dealer, Angus Cloud became ‘Euphoria’s’ moral backbone
When HBO’s teen drama “Euphoria” begins shooting its third season, it will do so without one of its strongest and most indelible characters. Played by Angus Cloud, who died Monday at 25, Fezco — a soft-spoken drug dealer with a philosophical streak — had emerged as the series’ conscience since its premiere in 2019, a tribute to what made the actor “special,” as his family and “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson called him in statements to The Times. “Fez,” as the character was affectionately known, may have been Cloud’s first foray into acting, in a program with bigger names (Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Colman Domingo) and bombastic set pieces, but in knocking it out of the park, he turned Fezco from an ensemble player into an integral part of the series’ success.
It helped, of course, that Fezco was likable — which made him stand out among all the hard-to-love characters in “Euphoria” — suburban teens hurtling toward adulthood high and half-naked. More than that, though, Cloud infused Fezco with an empathy that the rest of the drama too often lacks, turning a dope slinger into the show’s moral backbone.
From the pilot episode, when audiences first met these self-destructive high-schoolers in the fictional California burg of East Highland, Fezco felt distinctive, not just to “Euphoria” but to series TV. He is slow to speak. He doesn’t understand sarcasm. He’s bad at small talk. He learns math by measuring ounces and pounds of weed. But for all his exposure to a world where violence is the best way to solve a problem, he is naive — at least to the ways of his peer’s social scene. A novel mix of kid and adult, Fezco was an immediately endearing character.
Angus Cloud, who portrayed drug dealer Fez in HBO’s ‘Euphoria,’ has died. He was 25.
And in a story centered around Rue (Zendaya) and her struggle with drug addiction, he did his best to keep her away from the dangerous stuff, or at least safe from other dealers. He failed on the first count, but Fez nonetheless came into the series as our heroine’s most trustworthy protector, and Cloud played that role with such understated authenticity that his moments on screen popped again and again, particularly alongside the loud mouths and chaotic behavior of his peers.
As narrator, Rue describes Fezco as “not revolving in the same direction as planet Earth,” a quality Cloud, with his laconic delivery, brought uniquely to life. In his hands, Fezco may have been more socially awkward than the teens he crossed paths with, but he was observant and resourceful in ways they were not.
After all, Fezco’s serene presence was born out of survival, which made him seem like an alien orbiting outside the self-centered dramas of privileged brats like Cassie (Sweeney), Maddy (Alexa Demie) and Nate (Jacob Elordi).
For one of the series’ more understated characters, Fezco had quite a vivid backstory. Born to a strip-club owner and raised by his gangster granny, he learned how to cut crack cocaine into dime bags before he hit puberty. He went to school occasionally before dropping out. And he earned quite the scar on his head when he tried to stop Grandma from killing a deadbeat client with a crowbar.
Yet, thanks to Cloud, who brought gentleness and gentility to the role, the character could never be easily written off, or out, as a gangland plot device. The ginger-haired dealer was familiar to anyone who ever ran with a tough crowd, a potent reminder that those whom society deems “rough” often have more fortitude than the kids who “have it all.” After his granny was incapacitated by a stroke, Fezco raised himself and his younger, adopted brother, Ashtray (Javon Walton). Unlike the other characters who broke the law for fun, he did it to put food on the table.
After Angus Cloud’s death, ‘Euphoria’ creator Sam Levinson led tributes mourning the actor. Javon Walton, who played Ashtray to Cloud’s Fez, spoke out as well.
Throughout the first two seasons, Cloud played the role quietly, never straining for fireworks in a show built on them. It was fitting that he believably seemed more flappable during fumbling, lovestruck moments with good girl Lexi (Maude Apatow) than in the midst of the SWAT team shootout that took down Ashtray.
No wonder Fezco swiftly became a favorite of “Euphoria” fans. He represented tangible problems and solutions (even if illegal) rather than general teen angst. He was a source of groundedness and calm in the otherwise reckless and frenetic world of the series, a delicious irony given his high-risk lifestyle.
To turn a character that could have gone wrong in so many ways into one so complex and compelling — especially without much in the way of training or experience — took an actor of special abilities. And as those closest to him have said, Cloud was just that. Special.
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