Why Hunter Schafer Almost Turned Down Her Role In ‘Euphoria’

Initially hesitant about acting, Hunter Schafer landed the groundbreaking role of Jules Vaughn, a transgender high school student, in HBO’s “Euphoria.”

Despite sharing the screen with established stars like Zendaya and Jacob Elordi, her portrayal of Jules quickly captured audiences’ attention, and the actress has since landed roles in major franchise films such as “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” and “Kinds of Kindness.”

On Wednesday, Hunter Schafer appeared on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, revealing to host Alex Cooper that she kept her “Euphoria” audition under wraps and was initially hesitant to take on the iconic role.

The 25-year-old actress confessed that acting was never something she envisioned as her career path. “I really wasn’t sure that I was going to do it, because once again, I didn’t think acting was my calling or anything,” she explained. “It’s not my plan. It wasn’t my plan.”

“I have no acting experience. I have no idea what I’m doing. So, I get in and the great thing is that they essentially just wanted me to play myself,” she recalled. “It worked for them, so I keep getting callbacks. … Eventually, they fly me out to L.A. for a final audition in front of all these HBO execs in this crazy room. I find out later that afternoon that I got the role.”

Schafer revealed that she began expressing femininity at a very young age. In seventh grade, she came out to her parents as a gay boy, but by eighth grade, she was experiencing gender dysphoria. In ninth grade, Schafer came out as a transgender girl and started her transition after being diagnosed with dysphoria.

Because of this, the actress was hesitant about taking on a trans role because “it’s not written by a trans” person–but after seeing the paycheck for each episode, Schafer became more interested in taking on the role.

“I was like, ‘This is more money than I’ve ever seen in my whole entire life. I don’t think I can say no to this,’” she continued. “At that point, I had also read more of the episodes. I really liked the show.”

Plus, she formed a connection with “Euphoria” showrunner Sam Levinson, and became all the stars aligned, she signed on and accepted the role.

Schafer explained that her parents are Christian pastors, noting that their church is “on the chiller side of Christianity.” Despite this, she was still nervous about sharing details about playing Jules, and she waited to tell them until she had actually booked the role.

“I had to tell my parents that I was doing a TV show and in the first episode, I’m having an-l sex with a 45-year-old and cutting myself in the arm,” she said, referring to a sex scene with Eric Dane, who plays Cal Jacobs on the show.

The 25-year-old transgender star previously said she felt she could go further as an actress by “not making [playing transgender roles] the centerpiece to what I’m doing.”

“I worked so hard to get to where I am, past these really hard points in my transition, and now I just want to be a girl and finally move on,” she told GQ Magazine, adding that being known simply as a “trans actress” is “ultimately demeaning to me and what I want to do.”

“I’ve been offered tons of trans roles, and I just don’t want to do it. I don’t want to talk about it,” Schafer added.

“I know for a fact that I’m one of the most famous trans people in media right now, and I do feel a sense of responsibility, and maybe a little bit of guilt, for not being more of a spokesperson, but ultimately, I really do believe that not making it the centerpiece to what I’m doing will allow me to get further.”

“And I think getting further and doing awesome [work], in the interest of ‘the movement,’ will be way more helpful than talking about it all the time,” she concluded.