Type keyword(s) to search

Quick Hits

Hunter Schafer Wrote a Special Episode of Euphoria Instead of Checking Into a Mental Hospital

  • On Wednesday night's Tonight Show, Hunter Schafer revealed that writing this week's special episode of Euphoria with Sam Levinson helped her avoid checking herself into a mental hospital.

    "Sam, the writer/director/creator of the show and I were talking a lot over quarantine, and this was kind of happening while I drove across the country," Schafer told Jimmy Fallon. "So I'd been in North Carolina for a little bit, and I have to be honest, I was not doing super well mentally at that time, you know, as quarantine has put a lot of us in that place. And I had taken it upon myself to research mental hospitals in North Carolina, and I was like 'it might be a good decision to do that' with where I was at. But all of them had terrible reviews on Google Maps... I fortunately haven't been to one before, and I just was like 'okay, where can I go that would be good?' Then Sam called me later that day, and I was like 'Sam, I've been researching mental hospitals for two hours. Why do they all have terrible reviews? I can't find any that are good.' He was like 'Hunter, no one likes being at mental hospitals. No one is going to leave a good review for a mental hospital.' Then we started tossing around ideas for the episode again, and I wrote the episode instead of going to that kind of institution." 

    "It was just really nice to be able to put my energy into something, and Sam was so collaborative," she said, before revealing she took Shonda Rhimes' Master Class to learn scriptwriting. "I got into Grey's Anatomy when I was stewing in LA... I started watching 8 hours of Grey's Anatomy, and then I would watch her Master Class, so I picked up some skills, I think, from that. Thank you, Shonda Rhimes." 

    Euphoria: Special Episode Part 2: Jules premieres Sunday, January 24 at 9:00 PM ET on HBO, and will be available for earlier streaming on Friday, January 22 on HBO Max. Here's the trailer for it.

    People are talking about Euphoria in our forums. Join the conversation.

    Andy Hunsaker has a head full of sitcom gags and nerd-genre lore, and can be followed @AndyHunsaker if you're into that sort of thing.

    TOPICS: Hunter Schafer, HBO, HBO Max, Euphoria, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Sam Levinson, Shonda Rhimes