Blink and you’ll miss Nika King in Euphoria Season 3.
The actor and comedian plays Leslie Bennett, Rue’s (Zendaya) mother. She’s appeared in some of the show’s most memorable scenes, including a visceral fight with Rue in the series-best Season 2, episode 5.
By Season 3, though, Leslie has been relegated to a presence at the end of Rue’s phone. In episode 2, Rue leaves her a devastating voicemail from a gas station. In episode 6, Leslie picks up the phone, and the pair have a heart to heart about Rue hoping to come home.
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Viewers solely hear Rue’s side of the conversation, similar to her episode 3 phone call with Fezco (the late Angus Cloud) from prison. Euphoria only cuts to Leslie at the very end of the call, when she tells Rue she loves her and hangs up.
It’s the one time viewers see Leslie this episode, and based on King’s reaction on Instagram, the lack of screen time and audible dialogue came as a shock. Thankfully, it seems like she’s able to laugh about having such a minuscule part in the episode.
Nika King in “Euphoria.”
Credit: HBO
In an Instagram video posted after episode 6 aired, King laughs into the camera, saying, “I just watched my episode that I’ve been promoting all week, and my mom over here clowning me. My mom is clowning me! She said the internet waited all this time for me to just say one line.”
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“Three years,” her mother, chef Sharon Allen, chimes in from the background.
“I can’t do nothing but laugh,” King says.
Allen finishes with a killing blow: “What you want me to say? You ain’t had nothing to say [in the episode].”
“You better be glad I have a sense of humor,” King responds. “You better be glad I got thick skin.”
King went viral in 2024 for a stand-up set about the long-delayed Euphoria Season 3.
“People are like, ‘We need Season 3.’ I’m like, ‘Bitch, I need Season 3!’ I haven’t paid my rent in six months,” King says in her set. “And Zendaya’s over in Paris at fashion week. I’m like, ‘Bitch, come home! I need you. Mama needs you.'”
After fans expressed concern over King’s situation, she clarified that her comments were jokes in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: “My reference about Euphoria during my stand-up tour was a lighthearted joke. Most people have seen me portray serious characters on-screen but my roots are in comedy.”
However, King’s time on Euphoria isn’t over yet. In a reply to a comment on an April 26 Instagram post, King said she’s in episodes 6 and 8. Of course, just how much of episode 8 remains to be seen, but surely anything will be more than her role in 6, right? Right?
New episodes of Euphoria Season 3 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.
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