Apr 12, 2026 5:54pm IST
‘Euphoria’ Season 3’s Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on Becoming ‘Alamo Brown’, Working With Zendaya (EXCLUSIVE)
In its final season, HBO’s “Euphoria” is a different beast. Season 3 arrives after a five-year time jump from the events of the second season and a whole new Western-inspired aesthetic. Rue (Zendaya), Lexi (Maude Apatow), Jules (Hunter Schafer), Maddy (Alexa Demie), Nate (Jacob Elordi) and Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) are out of school and deep into adulting. Of the many new characters they encounter, Alamo Brown, a menacing strip-club owner that Zendaya’s Rue meets, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, is perhaps the most interesting.
In a chat with Variety India, Adewale talks about the challenges of slipping into the cowboy boots of this layered antagonist and director Sam Levinson's influences that shaped season 3.
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What was the biggest challenge to bringing Alamo Brown to life?
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje: Alamo is so far removed from me as a British Nigerian. I thought the challenge that excited me was to play this kind of Southern Frontier black cowboy. First of all, you have to adopt this accent. And then, this culture of a cowboy.
One of the things that both Sam [Levinson] and I spoke about was that it was important for Alamo to be able to ride a horse. Because several scenes were on a horse. I'd never ridden a horse in my life, and I was terrified! But I embraced that, because to authentically be able to portray a cowboy, it's important to ride a horse and immerse yourself in that quintessential element of the culture. It's the boots, the buckles, the hat… It brings it all together and gives you that cowboy swag. It makes sense of the world, and it plants you.
And obviously, the research. Just understanding where the term “cowboy” came from and that it was really a term that depicted post-black slaves who herded cows. You know, the slaves after slavery were called “boy.” And the ones that tended the cows were called “cowboys.” So, it was a very real black cowboy culture that I would imagine Alamo would have stemmed from and made a success out of.
What were your influences for Alamo?
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje: Sam Levinson was very much inspired by Sergio Leone movies and some of those characters in them. Jim Brown, (hence, the Brown) Eli Wallach, Woody Strode… And so, it was looking at that, an amalgamation of those characters, but making them my own in a contemporary Western setting.
And, lastly, really, the music. Isaac Hayes was a big influence in what helped me immerse myself in the world of Alamo. Songs like “Walk on By,” “Do the Right Thing,” "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic.” These songs, to me, encapsulated who Alamo was because there's a theatrical-ness to them with this very ominous presence. And that's really him. Those were his theme tunes that we played. So those are some of the ways I navigated it, getting into him.
And just from landing in L.A., I had everybody call me Alamo. Nobody needed to know Adewale. They just needed to know Alamo Brown. And they were so generous, they all embraced it, and it just helped me streamline my focus and get into his [Alamo] head.
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on working with Zendaya and Sam Levinson
In conversation with the media, Adewale praised Zendaya for being “a generous scene partner” and her “humor and quick-wittedness” reflecting in Rue. Going by his remarks and the "Euphoria" season 3 trailers, Alamo values loyalty above all else. And Rue is somehow going to end up betraying him, thus putting a target on her back. The British Nigerian actor also spoke of working with director Sam Levinson as a full-circle moment for him. His most famous role, Simon Adebisi, was on HBO’s prison drama “Oz,” and Levinson’s father, Barry Levinson, was one of the producers.
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