Snake expert breaks down what really happened to Nate in the box in Euphoria season three

In Euphoria season three episode seven, Jacob Elordi’s character Nate actually died, but in a rather unexpected way. The mobsters concocted an overly elaborate plan to extort money from Cassie. They bury Nate in a coffin-like box in the dessert. When Cassie and Maddy come to Nate’s rescue, they find he’s already dead, and a rattlesnake is chilling on his corpse. How did the Euphoria villain Nate end up meeting his death via snake? Would that ever really happen in real life? How scared should we be of snakes, and wooden boxes? An expert has helpfully explained what Euphoria gets wrong about snakes.

Monte Jackson is a researcher at the National Centre for Reptile Welfare. Now, in Euphoria, it seemed as if the rattlesnake heard Nate shouting and banging, then chose to enter the box. Apparently, a rattlesnake might really feel inclined to wander into Nate’s coffin – but not for the reason you’d think.

Monte told Film Shrine: “While a rattlesnake would not usually seek to enter a buried box with a human inside, what makes an important difference here is the presence of the breathing tube. A PVC tube like that would absolutely be attractive to a rattlesnake, but not because of a person being at the other end! It’s simply something that looks like a potentially attractive burrow. If anything, the sounds and vibrations of a struggling human would be a deterrent under most circumstances.”

Overall, “it is unlikely that the rattlesnake would enter the box to begin with (at least not with the intent to get near the human)”.

If snakes and sand have been haunting your nightmares, don’t fret! Yes, rattlesnake bites can be deadly. But the odds of a rattlesnake biting you are really, really small (unless it’s your own fault).

Each year, around 7,000 to 8,000 humans get bitten by venomous snakes in the USA (a country of nearly 350 million people). Studies have found more than half of these cases tend to happen because somebody deliberately attempted to kill or pick up the snake. Other incidents typically happen because somebody trod on the snake, or made a similar error.

According to Monte, “Rattlesnakes are typically not inclined to bite unless they feel threatened and unable to escape … arguably a thrashing, panicked person might hit the snake, and induce it to bite, but the snake would not go into the box and bite the human unprovoked.”

Euphoria got something else wrong about a snake before Nate died. Do you remember Bishop’s lengthy monologue about a pet python that seemed to be ill, but was “sizing up” its owner ready to eat her? It appears Bishop has been spending too much time in silly Facebook groups. “This is a repetition of a very common urban legend and does not reflect the behaviour of any known python or boa on the planet.” Phew.

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Featured image credit: HBO