Angus Cloud in his extremely short life gave us but a glimmer of the massive shining star he could’ve been

Angus Cloud, the twenty five year old breakout star of HBO’s massive hit show Euphoria died today. And that just absolutely fucking sucks….everything about it. It’s tragic. It’s terrible and it’s heartbreaking

We are incredibly saddened to learn of the passing of Angus Cloud. He was immensely talented and a beloved part of the HBO and Euphoria family. We extend our deepest condolences to his friends and family during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/PLqkz5Rshc

— euphoria (@euphoriaHBO) July 31, 2023

As Euphoria’s fame rapidly expanded so did the stardom of its relatively unknown cast. Aside from Zendaya who’s rocketed above the highest peaks of Hollywood’s elite, Angus Cloud lived in the class of Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi, and Storm Reid who all appeared from the world of obscurity and quickly rose to god-like status with the show’s young fans.

In a series built on tragedy, death, grief, strife and alienation, it’s horrifyingly depressing that the loss of Angus Cloud in real life debilitatingly imitates the perfection in art he so brilliantly embodied.

Masked by the surreal over-the-top drama of high school nonsense was always the all-too-real depressing nature of the subverted context Euphoria is never shy about smashing you over the head with.

Death, drugs, suicide, finding and losing your personal identity, and the complete inability to prevent your own demons from thrusting you into a spiral of disaster run along the thematic roller coaster of the Euphoria as commonplace as dad-gags do on Impractical Jokers.

I’ve always felt that the show is one of the more misinterpreted and even misunderstood series on television. It’s almost too smart for its audience. Even the show’s most loyal viewers, more often than not, mistakenly experience it at face value rather than (how I’ve always assumed it’s supposed to be viewed) through the lens of its incredibly unreliable, drug addicted, narrator.

I’ve always said that the majority of what Rue tells us is straight-up bullshit. We’re not supposed to believe her. She’s a liar….a drug addict who is spinning yarns to convince us she’s alright.

Except for what she says about Fezco…

Fezco is her protector. He’s a genuine good soul who, despite his ambition to stay alive with the skills he has looks out for Rue when he easily could just let her die. He’s her moral rock. He’s her lifeline. He’s probably the only reason she isn’t dead

The irony of Fezco being Rue’s protection from herself while also being her drug dealer was always one of the most impressive nuisances of the series, for me. A character who could’ve been the most hated became the one that was easily the most beloved.

And that’s a testament to the flawless poignant performance of a young, brilliant Angus Cloud. Few could’ve pulled off such a complicated part…let alone with essentially no credits to his name prior to landing the role. Angus Cloud as Fezco was probably one fraction of what his talent could have been.

That makes today’s news of his tragic passing all-the-more difficult to take. The real life person who brought to life one of the most likable but flawed characters dying way too young with so much potential ahead of him is horrifyingly fucking devastating. You can’t help but weep for those who knew and loved him.