Several months after announcing her early graduation from Euphoria High, Barbie Ferreira is breaking her silence on her departure.
“I don’t think there was a place for her to go,” she said of her character, Kat, on Monday’s episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd. “I think there were places she could have gone. I just don’t think it would have fit into the show. I don’t know if it was going to do her justice, and I think both parties knew that I really wanted to be able to not be the fat best friend. I don’t want to play that, and I think they didn’t want that either.” Ferreira added that she and series creator Sam Levinson came to a “mutual decision” to end their working relationship.
Ferreira spoke of the “struggle” to find a worthy storyline for Kat in season two amidst speculation that alleged fallout between her and Levinson led to her reduced role. After Kat’s self-empowerment arc in season one, her limited screen time in the show’s second season largely centered on the character faking a terminal illness to break up with her boyfriend, Ethan (Austin Abrams).
Ferreira said that it was “actually really hurtful” to watch season two, “seeing the fans get upset” about the character’s decline. “I just felt like, maybe it’s like I overstayed my welcome a little bit?” she recalled thinking. “So for me, I actually felt good to be like, ‘Okay, I get to not worry about this, and we both don’t get too worried about this,’ because it’s exhausting.”
The 26-year-old actor continued, “Sam writes, for like, things that he relates to. I don’t think he relates to Kat. I like Kat, so I get to go on my own path. At first, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m a flop. I’m a loser.’ It really has been a good thing.”
Ferreira also discussed The Daily Beast’s report last February alleging that she walked off set while filming season two—a piece that also said the actor injured herself while filming a hot tub scene. “When people ask me about season two, it’s usually they come at me like I was some sort of victim to season two. And I’m always like, ‘No, it’s okay, promise. It’s good,'” Ferreira said. “I actually did not walk off set. I did sprain my ankle once, and had to go get an X-ray. Maybe that’s what they mean?”
