That Grotesque Image of Nate’s Mouth in ‘Euphoria’ Has a Horrifying Explanation and Sam Levinson Planned It All Along

The moment Cassie pulled back the lid of that coffin in ‘Euphoria‘ Season 3, millions of viewers found themselves confronted with one of the most disturbing images the HBO series has ever put on screen. A bloated, discolored tongue bursting from Nate Jacobs’ lifeless face, glassy eyes frozen in terror, and a rattlesnake still coiled and rattling on his chest.

So what was actually in Nate’s mouth? The grotesque answer is his own tongue, swollen beyond recognition from rattlesnake venom. Nate’s severe reaction to the venomous bite left him with an incredibly swollen tongue and mouth, creating the single most shocking visual of the entire season and sending the internet into an immediate frenzy.

The Rattlesnake Coffin Scene That Stopped ‘Euphoria’ Fans Cold

Nate had been in financial trouble all season, owing a large sum of money to a loan shark named Naz. In Episode 7 of Euphoria Season 3, Naz took Nate hostage and buried him in a grave with a small vent, and Cassie was given a 72-hour deadline to arrange the funds. It was a tense, escalating hostage situation that the show had been building toward for weeks.

A tube in the coffin led to the surface, allowing Nate to breathe, but a rattlesnake crawled through the tube and bit him. What looked like a lifeline became the instrument of his death, in the cruelest possible twist. As Nate screamed and banged on the lid of his coffin, a curious snake slithered down the air pipe Naz left for him, and Nate went from thinking someone was coming to help him to realizing he was about to die.

Following a tense, Western-style standoff that saw Alamo fatally shoot Naz, Artur dug Nate up, and Cassie collapsed into sobs alongside Maddy when the coffin was opened to reveal a grotesque version of her once handsome husband, glassy eyes frozen in terror, a bloated tongue sticking out, and very dead. The visual hit audiences like a gut punch, and for good reason. It was designed that way.

Nate Jacobs’ Death Was Planned From the Very Beginning

According to creator Sam Levinson, the death of Nate was planned from the beginning. This was not a last-minute creative pivot or a response to audience pressure, but a long-gestating conclusion to one of television’s most divisive characters. The original idea was simpler: Nate would suffocate while buried alive. Later, Levinson imagined a rattlesnake entering the coffin through the air pipe, which became the final terrifying version used in Episode 7.

In an exclusive interview with Esquire, Levinson offered a darkly playful explanation for why he killed the character this way. Levinson said, “There’s this kind of funny thing where I know what the audience wants in terms of justice or karma and with that in mind, I always think, ‘Well, how can I give it to them?'” He was, in short, giving the audience exactly what they had been asking for and then making them feel complicated about receiving it.

Jacob Elordi, reflecting on his character’s arc, said, “Nate is someone who’s made so many mistakes and made so many dark choices. It’s cool to see it all come to what it’s come to,” in a post-show interview for HBO. For a character who had spent three seasons wielding fear as a weapon, dying in fear felt like a fully closed circle.

Jacob Elordi on Filming the Buried Alive Sequence

The Australian actor recalled the claustrophobic reality of shooting the scene, which required him to be sealed inside a coffin for extended periods, with his shoulders touching the sides and arms immobilized as the lid was drilled shut around him. Most performers would find this psychological torture, but Elordi described a surprisingly calm experience inside the box.

The snake scenes reportedly used real rattlesnakes during filming in California desert locations, adding realism and tension to the already disturbing sequence. The production brought genuine animals onto set, raising the intensity for everyone involved. Jacob Elordi recalled, as quoted by US Weekly, that “snakes were rattling, which was really alarming when you are locked in a box.”

The actor said it was “bittersweet” to have left the show before the season finale, describing ‘Euphoria’ as a “massive” part of “not just my career, but my life” and adding that he felt “proud” to have been part of the HBO show. Whatever one thinks of Nate Jacobs the character, Elordi’s commitment to that final chapter was clearly total.

Fan Reactions to ‘Euphoria’ Season 3 Episode 7

The death of Nate Jacobs quickly went viral across TikTok, X, and Instagram as viewers shared clips, edits, and reactions following the episode’s release. The sheer visceral nature of the death image, that swollen tongue and venom-ravaged face, made it almost impossible for fans to scroll past without sharing. The final reveal of Nate’s corpse instantly turned “Nate Jacobs death” into one of the top entertainment searches online.

Euphoria viewers reacted with glee after the character met a grisly end, with fans declaring he had gotten what was coming to him. The response was not entirely cold-blooded, though. One viewer wrote, “I thought it would end like this, but he deserved that ending of his,” while another added, “Nate got what he deserved, but seeing their reaction was way too heavy.” Even those celebrating his death seemed rattled by how Cassie and Maddy received it.

According to Sam Levinson, the gruesome death scene was designed to make audiences uncomfortable even if they believed Nate deserved punishment. That discomfort is the whole point. ‘Euphoria’ has never been interested in clean moral satisfaction, and sending Nate out in a way that produces equal parts cheering and unease is about as on-brand as the show gets.

What Nate’s Death Means for the ‘Euphoria’ Finale

Nate Jacobs spent Season 3 losing power piece by piece: the disastrous wedding, the debt, the severed toe, and then the shallow grave, with Jacob Elordi’s character finding himself trapped by loan sharks after his debt finally caught up with him. The death did not arrive out of nowhere. It was the last station on a long downward journey.

Cassie went from frantic wife to widow in one episode, her emotional weather transformed completely by Nate’s death. That shift sets up the finale with enormous emotional weight and unresolved grief surrounding a relationship that was never healthy to begin with. With the rattler scene landing as a biblical-flavored moment of karmic reckoning, the season has positioned itself as a reckoning not just for Nate but for everyone orbiting his destruction.

With the ‘Euphoria’ finale just one episode away, the question of what becomes of Cassie, Rue, and everyone left standing is dominating the conversation, and if Nate’s death in that coffin is any indication, Sam Levinson is not interested in sparing anyone’s feelings on the way out. What do you think Cassie’s grief over Nate says about her journey, and did his ending give you the closure you were looking for or leave you more unsettled than you expected?