TVLine's Performer Of The Week: Zendaya

THE PERFORMER | Zendaya

THE SHOW | "Euphoria"

THE EPISODE | "Stand Still and See" (May 17, 2026)

THE PERFORMANCE | "Euphoria" has almost become a completely different show in Season 3, throwing its cast of high school characters right into the deep end of the real world with a significant time jump and a wild, Tarantino-esque crime caper. But now and then, we can still see glimmers of the characters we first fell in love with, and we got that from Zendaya this week as Rue dropped all the pretense and took some time out for a moment of brutally honest self-reflection.

Rue has gotten herself in too deep with gun-toting crime boss Alamo — literally too deep, as she found herself buried in the ground up to her chin — and Zendaya has mostly been ambling through this season as comic relief, flashing goofy reaction shots while Rue dodges another bullet. But Rue is at her best when she drops the too-cool, half-stoned act and actually gets real, and Zendaya is at her best then, too. This week, Rue admitted to Jules she kind of longed for a normal life with kids, with Zendaya flashing a worn-out sadness as she said, "I just want good old-fashioned American problems." Then Rue and Jules got into a nasty fight, and Zendaya let us see every molecule of Rue's hurt on her face during the silent elevator ride that followed.

With everything crashing down around her, Rue took solace in a church, and Zendaya tapped back into the vulnerable Rue we knew from the first two seasons, pouring her heart out to her mom over the phone. It was a welcome chance to take a breather from all the violence and mayhem, and it broke our hearts to hear Rue reach out for some form of redemption: "I don't really want to be stuck with all the mistakes I've made." Her voice caught in her throat as she confessed, "I just want to start over. I want to be forgiven." (It immediately brought us back to a strung-out Rue opening up to her sponsor Ali in a diner booth in the post-Season 1 standalone episode "Trouble Don't Last Always," another of Zendaya's finest moments.)

Zendaya's eyes filled with radiant hope, though, as Rue kneeled in a church pew, shedding a tear while breaking into a gentle smile. So maybe Rue will get a happy ending after all. But even if she doesn't, Zendaya has still given this season an infusion of raw humanity and reminded us of the towering heights she can reach as a performer.

Scroll down to see who got an Honorable Mention shout-out this week...

Matthew Rhys' turn in the latest "Widow's Bay" perfectly encapsulated how most episodes of the Apple TV series unfold: One minute, it was laugh-out-loud funny; the next, it was a little unnerving. Rhys has walked that tonal tightrope quite nicely all season, but his character Tom's mushroom trip in Episode 5 peeled back new layers of the actor's talents — namely a knack for convincingly and hilariously playing someone under the influence. Rhys was hysterical as Tom realized he'd accidentally taken drugs, wide-eyed and desperate to make himself throw up the dose. (It didn't work.) As Tom's trip got more intense, Rhys left the heavy lifting to his eyes, communicating Tom's terror and confusion with little more than silent stares. And when the psychedelic experience reached its peak, forcing Tom to confront his late wife's eerie demise, Rhys' performance turned subtler but no less affecting. Tom's clearly got a demon or two left to exorcise, and Rhys has us seated for every haunting moment. — Rebecca Luther

Which performance(s) knocked your socks off this week? Tell us in the comments!