Zendaya’s Last 2 Roles Explore Gun Violence in Unique Ways

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Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Drama and Euphoria season 3, episode 3.

Zendaya is currently one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. While the idea of a traditional “star” is becoming outdated, Zendaya truly embodies the term, and 2026 promises to be her most successful year yet. She recently led The Drama to over $100 million in box office revenue, despite it being an unusual and darkly comedic film. She’s also starring in the third season of HBO’s Euphoria, which is receiving mostly positive reviews thanks to her performance.

That’s just a glimpse of what she has coming up! This summer, she’ll be acting alongside her husband in Spider-Man: Brand New Day and in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Later this year, she’ll even be facing off against the Avengers in the final film of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy, Dune: Part Three. But even without these huge movies, her upcoming work on The Drama and the third season of Euphoria are already generating a lot of buzz in Hollywood.

Though quite different in style – The Drama is a painfully awkward comedy about a wedding gone wrong, while Euphoria is a glamorous teen (now adult) drama – both shows feature Zendaya’s character confronting the issue of guns. In The Drama, she played a character who initially planned a school shooting but later became a gun control advocate. And in Euphoria, her character, Rue, has become involved in illegally selling guns to criminals.

The Drama Dealt With The Gun Issue Much More Subtly Than Euphoria Season 3

The big event in Euphoria season 3, episode 3, “The Ballad of Paladin,” was Cassie and Nate’s wedding, but the episode doesn’t actually get to the wedding until around the 30-minute mark. The first part of the episode focuses on Rue’s surprising new life and feels like a poorly executed Tarantino film. It tries to mimic his style with tough talk, cool visuals, and lots of violence, but it lacks his skill and originality.

Something interesting happened in the latest season of Euphoria that reminded me of a recent play Zendaya was in, The Drama. When the show revisits the strip club, we find out Rue is now secretly selling 3D-printed guns to criminals. This is striking because, just a few weeks earlier in The Drama, Zendaya’s character grappled with the ethics of gun ownership and the dangers of gun violence. The play’s central conflict revolves around her character, Emma, having once considered a school shooting, but changing her mind after a local tragedy brought her community together and inspired her to become a gun control activist. It’s a complete turnaround on the issue.

Just three weeks ago, a similar situation arose, and now we’re seeing the same actor casually sell automatic weapons to cartel members without hesitation. It’s interesting that both Euphoria and The Drama are addressing the sensitive topic of gun trafficking, but The Drama approached it with more nuance and care. While Euphoria briefly mentions American criminals smuggling guns into Mexico, The Drama thoroughly examines the issue, considering the ethical complexities of every aspect.

As a film fan, I was really struck by how The Drama shifts focus after Emma shares her big secret. The rest of the movie centers on Pattinson’s character, Charlie, and his attempts to process what she’s told him. He keeps trying to understand it simply, to categorize it as right or wrong, but the film makes it clear that it’s far too complex for easy answers. It’s not something you can just neatly explain or resolve – it’s messy and complicated, and the movie beautifully reflects that.

While Euphoria has always prioritized aesthetics, the first two seasons at least had meaningful storylines. However, the current season feels all surface level. It introduces provocative ideas – like Rue dealing weapons – but doesn’t explore them in any depth, focusing instead on visually striking scenes. Coming so soon after The Drama tackled similar themes with real substance, Euphoria‘s lack of depth is particularly noticeable.

The Drama’s Marketing Ingeniously Hid What The Movie Was Really About

I have to say, alongside 28 Years Later, The Drama boasted one of the most effective trailers I’ve seen in ages. It’s become far too common for trailers to reveal everything – every twist and turn – just to get people in the seats. But the marketing team for The Drama did something smart: restraint. They showed us that incredibly tense dinner scene – Emma, her groom, and the wedding party confessing their worst deeds after a night of drinking – and the shocked reactions to Emma’s revelation. But brilliantly, they kept the actual deed itself a secret, leaving us genuinely curious and on the edge of our seats. It was a perfect tease.

The trailer’s mystery fueled a lot of guessing about Emma’s actions, with many imagining the worst. This hook proved to be just as important to the movie’s success as the popularity of stars Zendaya and Pattinson. However, the trailer didn’t just conceal the plot twist – it cleverly masked the film’s true subject matter. The Drama is actually a direct and honest look at gun violence, laws surrounding guns, and the increasing number of mass shootings. The filmmakers worried that if they’d promoted it as a political film, it wouldn’t have been as popular with audiences.

A24 cleverly broadened the audience for The Drama by downplaying its most shocking twist in the marketing. The trailers were honest about the film being a dark and unsettling take on romantic comedies, but they avoided framing it as a movie about a specific issue. This allowed more people to discover it, before word-of-mouth revealed the full extent of its unconventional nature on opening weekend.

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2026-04-27 21:49