For two seasons, Barbie Ferreira was part of TV’s most exciting young cast on the Emmy-winning series Euphoria. However, after some character changes for her character Kat Hernandez and some rumors about her clashing with showrunner Sam Levinson, she abruptly left the show.
It was a shocker when Ferreira left the popular but controversial series, but now we know more details about why she did.
Ferreira started by denying rumors that she had walked off set after a fight with Levinson while filming.
“So, for me, when people ask me about Season 2, it’s usually they come at me with, like, I was some sort of victim to Season 2 and I’m always like, ‘No, it’s okay, promise. It’s good,'” Ferreira said on the Armchair Expert podcast to host Dax Shepard. “I kind of got sucked into this drama that I never asked to be in and that I’ve never talked about. I’m of the mindset that if it doesn’t exist I’m not going to address it because then I’m adding fuel to it. It’s taken on a life of its own. Don’t believe everything you read.”
“I actually did not walk off set,” Ferreira added. “I did sprain my ankle once and had to go get an X-ray. Maybe that’s what they mean?”
But Ferreira did say she had very good reasons for her exit.
“I don’t think there was a place for [Kat] to go,” she said about her character. “I think there were places she could have gone. I just don’t think it would have fit into the show. I don’t know if it was going to do her justice, and I think both parties knew that. I really wanted to be able to not be the fat best friend. I don’t want to play that, and I think they didn’t want that either.”
“I feel like with Season 2 and certain parts of it, I felt was a kind of a struggle for both parties,” she continued. “Sam, me…it was a struggle to find the continuation of her. So that was actually really hurtful watching it and seeing the fans get upset. I just felt like maybe it’s like I overstayed my welcome a little bit? So, for me, it actually felt good to be like, ‘Okay, I get to not worry about this and we both don’t get to worry about this’ because it’s exhausting.”
“Sam writes for, like, things that he relates to. I don’t think he relates to Kat,” she concluded. “I like Kat, so I get to go on my own path. At first, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m a flop. I’m a loser.’ It really has been a good thing.”
The third season of Euphoria is set to go into production later this year.
Up next, Ferreira is joining Oscar winner Ariana DeBose in the thriller House of Spoils, then starring with Dacre Montgomery and Josie Totah in a new adaptation of the horror cult classic Faces of Death.