Nika King as Leslie Bennett in 'Euphoria'. Image Source: Complex

Season two of HBO Max’s "Euphoria" ended on a bitter-sweet note, but what has stuck with the audience is how incredible the actors who worked on the show are along with what an incredible story Sam Levinson portrayed on-screen.

But we’ll be talking about Nika King, who portrayed the character of Leslie Bennett, Rue’s mother, on-screen as the audience needs to know how it was for her to play an addict’s mother.

In season one of "Euphoria", Leslie Bennett was shown as someone who was coping with the trauma of having her daughter overdosed and helping her throughout from relapsing again. Along with taking care of her addicted daughter, Leslie Bennett was grieving her late husband and taking care of her younger daughter as well. Nika King shared that season two was where she felt that her character had evolved and could turn things around for Rue.

Nika King mentioned that season two had some hard-hitting conversations between Rue and Leslie, which would have helped the audience to see their relationship from a different perspective. One of the scenes that she mentioned was when Rue is lying next to Leslie and the mother says that she has broken her completely and if she wants to die of dying drugs, she can but if she has to choose between losing one daughter or two, she is going to fight to save Gia. To which Rue replies, "that’s fair."

The actress shared that as the season went along, she and Zendaya, who plays Rue on-screen, became friends and eventually like a family, and she added that working with Zendaya is easy because she is a great artist. Nika King sees season two as the repercussions of Rue’s actions taking place in season one, starting with Gia, played by Storm Reid, discovering her body after Rue overdosed.

A still from season two, episode five. Image Source: Shadow and Act 

Nika said that she would like to focus on Leslie's younger daughter Gia who was affected the most as she was the one who finds Rue overdosed. She also added that although Rue is now sober and clean that does not takes away the hurt and damage she caused especially to her younger sister while she relapsed. 

The actress also talks about the fifth episode of season two, where the family gets to know that Rue has relapsed and tries to set up an intervention, which turns ugly as the audience will witness the verbal abuse and violence that take place in the house of an addict. Zendaya’s also warned people to watch the episode with care and parental guidance as it was going to showcase Rue hitting rock bottom.

The last shot of episode five is where Leslie is showcased hunched over her kitchen table in the early hours of the morning, exhausted and tired, waiting for Rue to come back home. While the audience is aware that after hitting rock bottom and understanding the damage she has done, Rue decides to stay clean for the rest of the school year, and while Leslie was not shown in the last episode, the actress thinks that she is doing well and is grateful for the writing that showcased Leslie's growth from season one to season two.

Nika King and Storm Reid. Image Source: Screen Rant 

Nika added that as everyone saw that Rue stayed clean throughout the rest of the school year, it can be assumed that her mother is in a good space to see her daughter healthy. Nika added that maybe Leslie is out with Gia having some quality time since she needs that too and she hopes that in season three all three of them could be a family again and go through some normal family stuff compared to what they have been through. But she added that things could go literally anywhere with Sam Levinson.

 Talking about the turmoil the mother-daughter duo went through in season two and especially in the fifth episode, the actress believes that there is hope for getting things better for Rue and Leslie. She added that at the end of the day she is her mother and nothing can beat that and the fact that Rue wants to get sober, she is going to help her daughter 100%.

Nika King believes that she was meant to play Leslie Bennett. Image Source: Complex 

Nika King lastly mentioned that both Zendaya and Storm Reid are incredible actresses and that they all have a different process of working and preparing for a scene, and for Nika, meditation works the best. She added that the trio tries to elevate the scene every time they film together by tapping into new emotional depths so that the audience can see the realness and rawness of their characters.

The actress added, "That’s done because we trust each other. We know that no matter what happens in this scene, we’re still going to be family, we’re still going to hug and tell each other We love you. So it’s about serving the characters." Playing the role of an addict’s mother is a tough job, but Nika connects with her character and explains that it’s just not her acting job for her but she truly understands the gravity of addiction.

Nika King added that she believes that she was born to play Leslie because of the things she has seen in her life. She mentioned that from her end she always tries to be real, raw and authentic while playing Leslie and wants to make sure that the families and parents who watch Euphoria or are dealing with addicts in their life could see that there are people who understand their pain. The actress lastly adds that from her end she always wants the audience to know that what they are being shown is an honest representation!