With its first season becoming the talk of the summer, HBO’s Euphoria has put issues of drug use, mental health, and teen sexuality on the map with a uniquely electric, Gen-Z lens. The hit drama courted controversy for its depictions of underage sex and otherwise trigger-happy subject matter, but nevertheless accumulated a rabid fanbase of all ages. Will Peltz, who plays East Highland alum Luke Kasten, in some ways embodies that duality with his character. On the show, Luke is a heartthrob dropout who Kat (Barbie Ferreira) views as sexual bounty, despite being four years younger than him and underage. Their hookup is a turning point for Kat’s sexuality but stops short of exploring the real age and power dynamic.

A former hockey player, Peltz welcomes the dialogue Euphoria has created around adolescent struggles and mental health, revealing that he would have appreciated opening up more about his feelings in his teen years. In an exclusive interview with VMan, the actor shares his own steps towards self-care and his rules to live by. 

1. He Found Out About His Euphoria Role In the Bathtub

“To be completely honest with you, [when I found out,] I was in my bathtub on the phone and my girlfriend was home,” Peltz said. “I jumped up and my [she] came over because she thought something was really wrong. [In my mind,] I was freaking out of excitement.
I don’t even think I said ‘Oh my god!’ or anything loud. I kind of punched the wall, and she was like, ‘Oh no! What happened?’ And when she saw me, I was literally dancing naked outside my bathtub. Then she knew it was good news.”

 

2. He Shot His Scene With An Open Wound

“During the first take in rehearsal as we were shooting, I ran into a door and cut my chin and I needed to get stitches,” he said. “They were going to stitch me up right away. They said, ‘It’s going to look really bad and weird,’ but I was like, ‘Nah just leave it. Stitch it after.’ Because I thought it would actually work well. We shot the whole night and I was bleeding on Barbie [Ferreira] a little bit, which wasn’t great, but it worked for the character so it turned out good.”

 

3. He’s Over the ’90s Trend

My style is always changing, and it does change depending on where I am,” he shared. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the ’90s trend, but I’m also getting a little sick of it now. I feel like some people are walking around looking like clones of each other a little bit. I’m definitely not a huge fan of the vintage stuff that everyone’s doing right now.”

 

4. He’s All About Mental Health Awareness

“I think one of the best things about our generation is our focus and awareness of mental health,” Peltz shared. “If someone’s walking around very sick [physically], you’re going to know in a way. You’re going to be able to tell like, ‘Oh, this person isn’t doing so well.’ But with mental health, someone can be walking around and look completely fine [but isn’t on the inside]. I think it’s important to be able to discuss that and discuss your emotions. With men, there’s often a stigma against talking about your feelings because you can be viewed as weak. I used to play on a hockey team and never talk about my feelings. But now that I’m older, my closest friends are people I can talk about my feelings with, talk about my fears, talk about life on a deeper level. I think it’s really cool to have an open platform for that.”

 

5. His Dream Role is the Joker

“It would have to be like Heath Ledger’s Joker, that tone of Joker,” he said. “I love superhero movies, especially when they’re real and a little raw. I love Christopher Nolan and his style of films because it’s so dark, gritty, and real, and those films feel
like they’re made for everyone. Don’t get me wrong, even to play Superman would be a dream or Batman, but to be able to play a really cool villain in one of those movies would be the dream.”

 

6. He’s Not Ruling Out a Robot Apocalypse

“I know obviously it’s way easier said than done, but I would love to live in a world where people genuinely cared about each other and had compassion for one another. I know it’s kind of unrealistic, but I think we’re getting there,” Peltz said. “I have so many fears [about the world]. I don’t know if we’re going to die in ten years because robots will get smarter than us, or if our planet is going to explode due to climate change… Don’t get me wrong, I love technology, I love my cell phone, but I don’t want it to grow too fast either. I want us to have some humanity left.”

 

7. He Believes in Learning From the L’s

“I believe that you don’t ever really know what kind of day someone’s having,” he said. “They may act rude, but their mom could have just gotten sick or their dog could have just gotten hit by a car. You have no clue. So now I’m trying to keep that in mind. I used to be the type of person that was a little bit more confrontational. If someone was going to honk at me while I’m driving, I would honk at them back. Now, I try to let that roll off a little bit more. The other thing I’ve learned that I can apply to work and my own experiences is something that Nelson Mandela said: ‘I never lose. I either win or I learn.’ I think that’s such a great phrase to live by. Try to make your L’s [losses] learning experiences. You learn more when something doesn’t go your way than
when it does.”