Draft:Nate Jacobs

Nate Jacobs
Euphoria character
First appearance	"Pilot" Euphoria June 16, 2019
Last appearance	"Rain or Shine" May 24, 2026
Created by	Sam Levinson
Portrayed by	Jacob Elordi
In-universe information
Occupation	Student Professional football player Real-estate developer
Family	Cal Jacobs (father) Marsha Jacobs (mother) Aaron Jacobs (younger brother) Derek Jacobs (older brother)
Significant others	Maddy Perez (ex-girlfriend) Jules Vaughn (former romantic interest) Cassie Howard (wife)
Nationality	American

Nathaniel "Nate" Jacobs is a fictional character in the American teen drama television series Euphoria, created by Sam Levinson. He is portrayed by Jacob Elordi, with Gabriel Golub portraying a younger version of the character. Nate is introduced as a high school football player and the eldest son of Cal and Marsha Jacobs. He is characterized by his volatile temperament, controlling behavior, and preoccupation with masculinity and social status. His relationship with his father, whose secret sexual life he discovers as a child, becomes a central part of his character.

Nate's major storylines include his relationships with Maddy Perez, Jules Vaughn, and Cassie Howard, as well as his increasingly antagonistic relationship with Cal. He manipulates Jules under the alias "Tyler" after discovering her sexual encounter with his father, and later begins a relationship with Cassie while she is Maddy's close friend. Five years after graduating from high school, Nate is married to Cassie and becomes involved in his father's real-estate business. His financial difficulties lead to his involvement with loan sharks, who eventually kill him.

Background

Nate is the eldest son of Cal and Marsha Jacobs and grows up in East Highland, California. His father places considerable emphasis on physical strength, athletic achievement, and conventional masculinity during his childhood. Nate has a younger brother, Aaron, and an older brother, Derek, who dies before the events of the series.

At the age of 11, Nate discovers a collection of videos documenting Cal's sexual encounters with men and transgender women. The discovery profoundly affects his perception of his father and contributes to his later preoccupation with masculinity and sexuality. Sam Levinson has described Nate, alongside several other characters, as coming from a troubled home and attempting to fill emotional voids through sex, drugs, and adrenaline.

As a teenager, Nate becomes a star football player at East Highland High School. He develops a reputation for aggression and intimidation and begins an unstable relationship with Maddy Perez. Their relationship is repeatedly disrupted by jealousy, possessiveness, and violence.

Nate later discovers that Maddy possesses intimate photographs of Jules Vaughn and learns that Jules previously had a sexual encounter with Cal. Using the online identity "Tyler", Nate begins communicating with Jules and develops an emotional attachment to her while concealing his identity. After learning that Jules has evidence of his father's encounter with her, Nate threatens to expose her private photographs unless she remains silent.

During his senior year, Nate begins a secret relationship with Cassie Howard, despite her friendship with Maddy. Their relationship becomes public after Maddy discovers the affair and contributes to the breakdown of Cassie's friendship with her.

Following high school, Nate takes over his father's real-estate business and marries Cassie. Five years after the events of the second season, he experiences financial difficulties and becomes indebted to loan sharks. After being abducted and buried alive, Nate is rescued but subsequently killed by the men pursuing him. His death occurs in the seventh episode of the third season, "Rain or Shine".

Personality

Nate is portrayed as confident, physically imposing, and highly competitive, particularly in relation to football and his social position at school. He maintains a controlled outward appearance while frequently responding to perceived threats or challenges with anger and intimidation. His behavior toward his romantic partners is characterized by possessiveness, jealousy, manipulation, and violence.

A significant aspect of Nate's characterization is his relationship with masculinity. His father's emphasis on physical strength and traditional masculine behavior contributes to Nate's efforts to construct a similarly dominant public persona. His discovery of Cal's sexual encounters creates a conflict between his understanding of masculinity and the reality of his father's private life. Levinson has described Nate as one of several Euphoria characters who attempt to compensate for emotional difficulties through sex, drugs, or adrenaline.

Elordi has described Nate as a deeply conflicted character whose anger provides an outlet for problems he does not know how to confront directly. He has also characterized the role as substantially more complex than the version of Nate presented in the initial audition material, which he described as a stereotypical aggressive jock.

Nate's relationships with Maddy, Jules, and Cassie each expose different aspects of his personality. His relationship with Maddy is marked by possessiveness and physical violence, while his relationship with Jules develops through an anonymous online identity that allows him to express feelings he is unwilling to acknowledge publicly. His relationship with Cassie similarly reflects his desire for control and his difficulty separating intimacy from possession.

Development

Creation and conception

Nate Jacobs was created by Sam Levinson for Euphoria, HBO's adaptation of the Israeli television series of the same name. Levinson substantially altered the characters and storylines of the original series when developing the American adaptation. He described his approach as drawing on personal experiences and creating characters around their inner lives rather than beginning with broader thematic concepts.

Levinson conceived Nate as a character whose outward persona contrasts with his internal conflicts. His relationship with Cal provides much of the character's initial psychological conflict, while his relationships with Maddy, Jules, and Cassie allow different aspects of his controlling and insecure behavior to be explored.

Casting and portrayal

Jacob Elordi was cast as Nate after auditioning for the series. According to Elordi, the initial audition material presented Nate primarily as an aggressive, stereotypical jock, and he was unaware of the character's eventual complexity. As the series developed, Nate's background and relationships became increasingly prominent.

Elordi has said that he approached Nate as substantially different from himself and regarded the character as difficult but rewarding to portray. He has also discussed the contrast between Nate's outward behavior and the character's underlying conflicts.

The character's development continued throughout the series. In the first two seasons, Nate is primarily depicted as a high school athlete whose relationships and family circumstances drive his increasingly destructive behavior. The third season presents him five years later as an adult, married to Cassie and managing his father's business. His storyline shifts from conflicts within his family and relationships to financial difficulties and criminal entanglements, culminating in his death.