Euphoria's Jacob Elordi has mixed feelings about his character Nate

Many fans of Euphoria were happy to see the hated Nate Jacobs being the recipient of some pain in the season 2 premiere of the HBO show on Sunday, Jan. 9, when Fezco smashed a bottle over his head and then continued to beat him up. Jacob Elordi, who plays Nate, admitted that even he wouldn’t mind getting a few licks in on the character.

Appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Elordi said “I think me, as Jacob, I would love to beat him up. Like I would love to give him a clip around the ears.” But, unsurprisingly, Elordi has mixed feelings about it since he plays the character. “As Nate, I feel very bad for him. … I had to get beat up … it sucked.”

All of this stems from the character of Nate being a pseudo villain in the first season of Euphoria. Many fans voiced their displeasure with Nate on social media when the first season aired, with him being called a sociopath and seen as a prime example of white male privilege. Entertainment Weekly wrote up a whole article in 2019 about how Nate was the most terrifying villain on TV at the time.

Nate has drawn similar reactions within the show — particularly from Fezco — who had previously threatened to kill Nate before he finally beat him up, in the Euphoria season 2 premiere.

The season 2 premiere was the highest-rated episode for Euphoria and here's how some fans on social media reacted to seeing Nate finally get his comeuppance:

While fans have been unified in their dislike for Nate throughout the series so far, this moment will likely be an inflection point for the character one way or the other. Perhaps Nate will see the error of his ways and change for the better. We’ll just have to wait and see as Euphoria season 2 plays out over the next few weeks.

The next episode airs on Sunday, Jan. 16, at 9 p.m. ET/PT and streaming on HBO Max. In the UK, Euphoria airs on Mondays, on Sky TV. Here's how to watch Euphoria season 2.