Euphoria Season – “Euphoria” Season 3’s prologue tradition—mini backstory sequences that often play like short films—returns in Episodes 6 and 7. Episode 6, “Stand Still and See,” revisits Alamo Brown’s 1978 origin, while Episode 7, “Rain or Shine,” traces recurring character A
For a season that had largely stepped away from “Euphoria”’s signature prologues, the show suddenly brought the practice roaring back in its last two episodes—like it couldn’t stay away from the details that make its characters feel impossibly real.
Episode 6, “Stand Still and See,” opens with a 1978-set origin story for strip club impresario Alamo Brown (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). The sequence finds him learning to be both entranced by and wary of women after his beloved mother (Danielle Deadwyler) betrays the man who loves her for money.
Episode 7, “Rain or Shine,” shifts to recurring character Ali (Colman Domingo), offering a look at his life as a drug addict before he cleaned up and became a sponsor to “Euphoria” heroine Rue (Zendaya).
What makes these prologues hit so hard is that they aren’t tossed in as trivia. They’re reverse-engineered from the rest of the series. connecting directly to where viewers already know the characters eventually end up. In Alamo’s case. the design choices add another layer—visual clues built to show the distance between his childhood and his later tastes.
“Young Alamo’s relationship with his mother speaks to the choices that he’s made as an adult,” production designer François Audouy told IndieWire. “You can see the seeds being planted.”
That line isn’t just a theme. It shows up everywhere in the craft work surrounding the prologue. Production designer François Audouy. costume designer Natasha Newman-Thomas. and the rest of the crew drew a careful line between Alamo’s childhood and the environments over which he would later exert total control as an adult. including the Silver Slipper strip club.
Earlier in the series, viewers are told that Alamo picked all the decor in the club himself. In the origin story sequence, the Silver Slipper’s color palette and Western style are incorporated into the apartments where he lives with his entrancing and treacherous mother.
“You see that progression through costumes as well,” Newman-Thomas explained. When Alamo’s mom comes into money. one of the first things she gets is a new pair of cowboy boots. Newman-Thomas also worked closely with Audouy to ensure the high heels Alamo’s mother wears at a key moment would match the enormous leg adorning the Silver Slipper. Set decorator Anthony Carlino helped make sure the clothes strewn across the apartment were items Alamo’s mother actually would wear.
Ali’s prologue gets built with the same sense of precision—down to how spaces function as storytelling tools. “In Ali’s backstory, the set is a full two-bedroom apartment,” Audouy said. “You could wander around, and open all the drawers, and make whatever you want in the kitchen.”
Every videotape and album in the apartment was carefully chosen to reflect something Ali would watch or listen to. The goal wasn’t only accuracy; it was flexibility—so that if Levinson and Domingo decided they wanted Ali to put something on the turntable. the vinyl would feel right in that moment. Newman-Thomas described what that kind of preparation unlocks for direction: “It opens up Sam’s direction to be able to say. ‘Go put on a record. ’ and know that because François is doing a beautiful job. it will be a record that belongs there.”.
That philosophy runs through the show’s broader approach to production. Newman-Thomas and Audouy describe it as a kind of improv—providing Levinson and the actors with the tools they need to change things on the fly or pursue new ideas as they arise. For them. the prologues aren’t a detour; they’re an extension of the same work done for characters throughout the series. just with more room to dig deeper.
“I talk about backstory in all the sets, for all the characters,” Audouy said. “It’s important to ‘imbue the scenery with details that give us clues that are implied in the script but in between the lines. The script doesn’t tell you anything about backstory. so you have to create that through set decoration and costume design.’”.
To make that approach consistent. Audouy and Newman-Thomas create detailed timelines for characters—so every scene has a visual answer to who someone is and where they are in their life. Audouy gave an example: “For example. we have a timeline of Ali’s firefighting history. when he was in the military and exactly what happened. when his kids were born. when his relationship ended. the different chapters of his drug problems. The whole thing is mapped out. and everyone gets a copy of that so that everything on the set — everything that’s on the walls. everything in the drawers — it all lines up to the specifics of that backstory.”.
Costumes follow the same logic. Newman-Thomas dresses Ali in rugged. working-class clothes indicative of his firefighting background. including the old fire department shirt he works out in. She and Audouy also collaborated on all the photos in Ali’s apartment—talking. for example. about what year his wedding photo would be and what bridal gown would be appropriate. “We were working together constantly on those details,” Newman-Thomas said.
The attention to detail carries into origin-story characters who don’t become part of the regular cast. In one prologue sequence. there’s a sex worker Natasha Lyonne plays—someone Ali gets together with after his family life crumbles. One expressive accessory is a wrist brace Lyonne wears. something Newman-Thomas wanted to use to place the character emotionally and physically. “I thought it would bring more realism to the character. and to bring her down to where Ali is emotionally. ” she said. “She’s a working girl, and there are injuries from the job.”.
For the Alamo prologue, Audouy and Newman-Thomas immersed themselves in period research. The script didn’t specify a date or location for the origin story. so Audouy pitched Levinson the idea of 1978 Chicago. He also used Michael Schultz’s coming-of-age film “Cooley High” as a reference point. Audouy said “Cooley High” was shot in the Cabrini-Green housing projects and that he wanted Alamo to be a character who grew up in those kinds of conditions—leading to a “rags to riches to rags” arc set in the Midwest of 1978.
Wardrobe work was equally deliberate. Newman-Thomas scoured vintage catalogs and magazines not only from the late 1970s, but from earlier decades. She stressed that the characters shouldn’t look like they stepped out of a Sears catalog from 1978. “They’ve been collecting clothes for 20, 30, 40 years. Especially for something like the church scene — when someone’s buying their church clothes. it’s an investment that hopefully they’ll be able to wear for the rest of their life.”.
Coordination between departments made all of that feel seamless. Audouy. Newman-Thomas. and set decorator Anthony Carlino were able to align on decisions with each other and other departments partly because of a Warner Bros. setup where offices and the stages were close together. Audouy described it as a circular process—everyone constantly inspiring each other and building on each other’s work.
“It was nonlinear, and I think creativity loves nonlinear thinking,” Audouy said. “It’s not like there’s a creative formula that equals a sum. It’s more about going back over and over and constantly massaging the work.”
“Euphoria” airs Sunday nights on HBO and is currently streaming on HBO MAX.
Euphoria Season 3 Episode 6 Stand Still and See Episode 7 Rain or Shine Alamo Brown Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Danielle Deadwyler Ali Colman Domingo Zendaya Rue HBO HBO Max prologues production designer Francois Audouy costume designer Natasha Newman-Thomas