Some Euphoria viewers were shocked by Bishop’s fatal decision to ultimately betray his boss, Alamo — but when did he start to turn on the crime lord?
“This is just my own conjecture. I think for Alamo, when you’re in the hot seat, you know you’re always aware that people are snapping at your heels. People want that seat, people want what you have,” Akinnuoye-Agbaje, 58, exclusively told Us Weekly. “I think he’s always aware that he could have a challenge that is par for the course for being the boss or the emperor.”
Akinnuoye-Agbaje noted that Bishop (Darrell Britt-Gibson) was always someone Alamo second guessed, adding, “He’s always slightly paranoid about perceived or unperceived threats.”
The actor pointed to the scene where Alamo and Bishop were with Maddy (Alexa Demie).
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“It surfaced there — even though it may not be written subtextually. Bishop talks in riddles and you could see that Alamo is frustrated,” he noted. “The frustration comes off, like, ‘Why are you not telling me the truth about this?’ I think there’s an inkling.”
Akinnuoye-Agbaje clarified it was only a theory, adding, “It’s just a general perceiving of threats around him for being the top of the throne — and he may have thought Bishop at one point may want it because he’s always with him. Bishop is always the guy with him everywhere.”
During the May 31 series finale, Bishop had a hero moment when he helped Ali (Colman Domingo) avenge Rue’s (Zendaya) death by removing bullets from Alamo’s gun moments before an appropriate, Western-style showdown.
Britt-Gibson, 39, previously shared his thoughts on the twist.
“I wasn’t aware, at first when I began filming, but I was made aware of it probably midway through filming,” he told TVInsider. “And I just thought it was so beautifully done.”
Britt-Gibson said the narrative choice made sense, adding, “At that point, it felt very much in line with what Bishop would do, in my opinion. And so it felt very organic that that was gonna happen. When we actually got to film it, nothing about it felt like a shock or a surprise to me.”
After Alamo’s death, Bishop also moved in on Maddy — whom his boss was previously interested in.
“I’m dead at that point so I didn’t see nothing,” Akinnuoye-Agbaje quipped to Us. “That’s the exciting part. We throw it out and then it’s for you guys to create your own theories and move it in your head. I’m dead. I don’t care. I’ll haunt both of them.”
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Akinnuoye-Agbaje did take the opportunity to reflect on whether Alamo and Maddy would have made it.
“He realized he has everything but nothing. He had this wonderful moment of self-reflection — this epiphany that he had been exploiting women all this time — and now he wanted to surrender to them,” he continued. “He mistakenly — or rightly — thought that, ‘OK, Maddy, you’re The One.’ But obviously when push comes to shove — excuse the pun — he threw her out the window and used her as a bulletproof shield.”
Despite his interest in Maddy, Akinnuoye-Agbaje didn’t see it lasting long.
“He was always going to be about himself first,” he told Us. “That is the man. So would they have had a future? I think he would have tried. They would have had their cocoa colored babies, perhaps. But I think anytime he was under threat — his empire or his life — he would have sacrificed her in a minute as we saw in the showdown.”
Euphoria is currently streaming on HBO Max.
