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| ā | I feel like my entire life, I've been trying to conquer femininity, and somewhere along the way, I feel like femininity conquered me. | ā |
| ā Jules to Dr. Nichols[src] | ||
Jules Vaughn is a main character in the first and second seasons of Euphoria. She is portrayed by Hunter Schafer, while her 11-year-old counterpart is portrayed by Clark Furlong.
Eclectic, free-spirited, chaotic and kind, Jules is a new girl in town, who quickly catches Rue and Nate's attention during the end of summer and before the start of their new year in high school.
Biography[]
Early life[]
| ā | She hated her life, not because it was bad, but because when you hate your brain and your body, it's hard to enjoy the rest. | ā |
| ā Rue's voiceover[src] | ||
Since Jules was about seven or eight, she dealt with bouts of depression, anxiety, and self-harm largely stemming from gender dysphoria, which eventually led to her mother taking her to a psychiatric hospital against her will at age 11. This incident strongly affected the already strained relationship between them due to Amy's alcohol and drug abuse, which made Jules very distrustful towards her.
After recovering, Jules began to transition at age 13, and at the age of 16, she began to explore her sexuality with a rotating set of men she met online; according to Rue, they were always "cis, white, in a long-term relationships, and claimed to be 100% straight"[1]. After her mother's addiction became worse, and she was sent away to rehab, Jules' father quit his job in order to be closer to her and supported his daughter throughout her transition. They have a good bond and she has a seemingly good home life with her father.
While attending her old school, Jules met and befriended a person named TC who introduces her to Anna. A couple weeks before the events of Euphoria, Jules and her father moved to a new town. While attending summer school for Intro to Visual Arts, she befriended Kat Hernandez.
Season 1[]
"Pilot"[]
Jules is new to the town, she lives with her father who got custody of her after the divorce. At summer school, she made friends with Kat, who invited her to McKayās party.
While she was riding her bike by Nateās truck, he and McKay were discussing the party. Nate catcalled to her, and she flipped him off, showing him her middle finger, causing her and her bike to fall to the ground. When she got home, she went on a dating app and agreed to meet with a man with the username DominantDaddy. She cancelled her plans to meet up with Kat at the party. Upon arriving at the motel for their rendezvous, she has second thoughts, but he sends her a photo of a wine bottle and two glasses, so she walks to the room's door and knocks on the door. He asked her how old she is and she lies about her age and has rough sex with him. When he taking a shower after sex, his phone buzzes on the bedside table, when she picks it up, the lock screen is a studio portrait of him with what looks like his wife and young sons. She quickly dresses and leaves.
After her rendezvous with DominantDaddy, Jules wind up at the party at McKay's home. When Nate sees Maddy having sex in the pool, he storms into the kitchen and Jules immediately catches his eye. It's not made clear if he recognizes her as the girl who rode the bike. He begins to shout and taunt her, let's her know that he'd be willing to give her 'attention' and then ends up threatening her. To get him to back off, Jules took a knife pointing at him and then cuts herself. āBy the way, Iām Jules, I just moved hereā she announces before walking out the house and just before leaving the place she meets Rue who followed her. Rue asked her if she can come home with her. At Julesās house, Rue bandaged her up, then they lay in bed together.[2]
"Stuntin' Like My Daddy"[]
In episode two, Jules and Rue wake up in Julesā bedroom after the party and subsequently take hallucinogenics. We next see them on the first day of school, discussing how they both feel uneasy about the first day back, Rue because people know about her overdose and Jules because she cut herself at the party over the weekend and she is trans. The two are briefly seen during the Cheerleading performance in the cafeteria at school, reflecting how inseparable the two have grown. Jules and Rue are later riding their bikes through fields. Rue invites Jules over for dinner later that evening, as well as on Sunday, but Jules rebuffs her saying she will be busy. She then exclaims: āare you talking to your mama about me?ā. She then promptly rides home, leaving Rue feeling unwanted. Jules is first seen without Rue when she is about to have dinner with her dad. She is texting Tyler, a man she is messaging online, showing how her infatuation with him is drawing her away from Rue. She texts that her mom has been out of the picture for quite a while, indicating her unsupportive nature of Julesā transition which is in stark contrast to that of her cheerleading father. She is later seen helping get Rue back to her home after she is given Fentanyl by Fezās drug supplier, shortly after Tyler is revealed to be the aggressive Nate, texting Jules for an unrevealed reason.[3]
"Made You Look"[]
In episode 3, Jules and Rue are lying in Julesā bed again and Jules is obviously distressed by Rue being a drug user. She says āIām not trying to become best friends with someone whoās gonna f***ing kill them-selfā. Rue promises to stop in order for her and Julesā relationship to progress. Later, a montage of Julesā and Nateās (who she is not aware is catfishing her as Tyler) day, from them waking up to going to sleep, with Nate asking her personal questions such as when did she start to transition and where her mom is. Jules is said to be falling in love with Nateās Tyler persona, which may be the best sections of his own personality under his aggression and self hatred. Rue and Jules are then walking home, Rueās annoyance at Julesā obsession with Tyler is shown, responding with deflated answers to Julesās statements. Jules then asks if Rue wants to see Tylerās penis after it is shown that both Rue and Jules feel that the other has been acting odd all week. Jules is briefly in the āacceptable nude scene, controlling the slideshowā and them her and Rue are sitting at lunch, where Rue reluctantly says that Tylerās penis is large and she can understand the appeal, Jules then asks Rue will help her take partial nudes after school as Tyler has asked for them. When they get to Julesā house, they take the photographs and Jules is very satisfied with them, asking Rue if she finds them attractive, Rue says yes and promptly leaves after stealing some of the pills that were left on the kitchen counter. Rue and Jules are then outside of school, lying on the grass when Jules says that Tyler wants to meet her late at night, after the town carnival. Rue is concerned for her safety, saying that she feels like it will be an unsafe situation. Jules gets irritated with her, saying that she is unable to see him any other time because his mother is conservative and Tyler is a jock, whilst Jules is known to be trans in town. She says to Rue that she has been in so many more unsafe situations, and then runs away, skipping the school day. Rue then comes to her house, saying that she only wants Jules to be safe as she really cares about her. Jules goes up to her, hugging her and then says that she loves her. Rue leans in and kisses Jules, whilst Jules herself is frozen with astonishment. Rue pulls away, as she sees Julesā shocked expression, she dashes out the room. Jules is left standing speechless at the kiss.[4]
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Special episodes[]
"Trouble Don't Last Always"[]
Jules makes a brief appearance in this special, being woken up by Rue Bennett's kisses on the day of her presentation. She gets ready and leaves shortly after, the episode mostly revolving around Rue and Ali.[5]
"Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob"[]
Over the Christmas holiday, Jules has her first therapy appointment in which she reflects on the past half year she has spent in East Highland, which she describes āhave been a really rough 6 monthsā for her. This is the first episode to completely center on Jules and her retelling of events throughout the show. It becomes evident that Jules' mother is an alcoholic and she does not have a good relationship towards her. It even goes as far that Jules freaks out before Halloween when her Dad unexpectedly invited her home, screaming that she ādoesnāt care if she drinks herself to deathā. Her mother then runs away and one week later it is revealed over a phone call Jules witnessed I'm the corridor, between her dad and another person, that Jules`s mom relapsed into abusing alcohol and is now in hospital, which explains why Jules drank so much alcohol and lost control on the night of the Halloween party.
In this second special episode, Jules further explains her relationship towards femininity and being trans as something ādeeply spiritualā and personal to her. At first, she does not want to talk with her therapist about why she ran away, so she announces that she wants to go off her hormones, or at least remove the implant in her arm that suppresses her puberty.
Season 2[]
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Personality[]
At first, Jules looked like a cheerful, sweet and bold girl. She is deeply artistic, displaying a natural talent for unique fashion and sketching. However, it's shown that she can be impulsive about her choices, such as running away and being quick to anger. She has a deep romantic vulnerability that has the habit of getting her hurt. According to her, "half of every relationship" is in her head.
Physical appearance[]
Jules is a young teenage girl with pale skin, blue eyes, long platinum blonde hair that she changes her hair frequently, giving herself frosted pink and dark green, orange, blue or purple to match the tone of each episode. Her style is generally feminine, pastel colored, layered and contrasts different sets of colors against each other. Staples in her wardrobe include colorful skirts and dresses, long sleeved mesh tops, form hugging shirts, platform styled shoes and fishnet stockings. Unlike Maddy, Jules' makeup is less precise and structured, and are more artistic and closer to high fashion graphic makeup. Her style evolves later on to include more pants and less revealing outfits, likely due to her evolution in personality and disinterest in strict gender binaries.
As a trans woman, Jules has an implant that suppresses her male puberty hormones, which keep her testicles from getting bigger, establishing she has had no procedures regarding them.
In "Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob" we see a makeup-less Jules in muted tones. In contrast to her bright, almost distracting style at the start of the series, the natural look represents her newfound vulnerability.
This season, we can see the effects of the therapy session. Julesās style transformation is perhaps most evident in her blunt bob hair cut.
In the second season, she has above her shoulders sleek, an all-over natural color bobbed hair and her fashion is decidedly edgier.
Intense, captivating visuals are arguably what Euphoria does best. And costume designer Heidi Bivens brings that creative energy to the wardrobe department, where clothing is symbolic of character development. Case in point: Jules Vaughn.
Played by Hunter Schafer, Jules has been a pillar of the showās impeccable fashion reputation since it premiered in 2019. With an eye for visual art, the characterās outfits embody her natural creativity.
As the series progresses, Jules continues to examine the ways in which her self-expression connects with her transness, womanhood and her own body. And in season two, her changing style tells a story.
When we first met Jules in season one, she channels Sailor Moon, sporting florals and pastels, Y2K-inspired pleated skirts and cropped baby tees with bright, colourful makeup. Her long, platinum blond tresses are accentuated with baby pink hair dye.
Despite her whimsical appearance, she struggles with her identity, feeling pressure to perform hyper-femininity in order to feel validated by men. We see her style change as she begins to feel a sense of liberation thanks, in part, to her relationship with Rue.
By the end of season one, she wears darker streaks in her hair, punk-inspired makeup and baggier, more androgynous silhouettes.
In season two, Jules feels more in tune with herself, and her fashion is decidedly edgier. This can be traced back to the characterās spotlight episode, which aired between season one and season two. Named āF*** Anyone Whoās Not A Sea Blob,ā the episode was co-written by Schafer and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson.
In a conversation between Jules and her therapist, she comes to a ground-breaking revelation: āI feel like Iāve framed my entire womanhood around men.ā She realizes the image of herself she presents to the world has for so long been crafted by what she thought men desired. āIāve been trying to conquer femininity, and somewhere along the way, I feel like femininity conquered me,ā she says.
She also describes her complicated relationship to puberty, and how she worried it would distance her from femininity. But then, she compares womanhood to the ocean, something which is broad, deep and strong, yet still feminine and beautiful. āI want to be as beautiful as the ocean,ā she says.
In the therapy episode, we see a makeup-less Jules in muted tones. In contrast to her bright, almost distracting style at the start of the series, the natural look represents her newfound vulnerability.
This season, we can see the effects of the therapy session. Julesās style transformation is perhaps most evident in her blunt bob hair cut. For centuries, long hair has been tied to femininity, so this decision illustrates her breaking free from societal markers of conventional womanhood and embarking on a new journey.
Jules is experimenting with fashion in the second season of Euphoria. She wears a binder and her outfits often comprise chokers, baggy pants and an overall dimmer colour palette. In her makeup, she experiments with darker colours and sharp eyeliner designs. Through this style evolution, she's attempting to free herself from the male gaze and through that reclaims a sense of femininity and creative expression.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Amy Vaughn[]
Jules' mother is an addict and they have a very complicated relationship. When Jules was twelve, her mother got her admitted to a mental hospital due to her insistent self harming. Amy shows regret about her actions in Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Seablob but Jules is extremely traumatized by her mother's actions and is finding it hard to forgive her.
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David Vaughn[]
Jules and her dad have a very loving relationship. He got sole custody of her after she made it out of the mental hospital and proceeded to be very supportive of her transitioning. They're shown to regularly spend time together, going out to eat and watching TV. David wants Jules to forgive her mom and tries to convince her but she's not ready.
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Romances[]
Rue Bennett[]
| ā | Jules was my first love. I'd like to remember it that way. I don't know if that's actually true, though. I think I was high for too much of it. I know it wasn't easy for her. And I hope she forgives me. | ā |
| ā Rue about Jules[src] | ||
Rue was instantly curious about Jules, and after Jules threatened to knife Nate Jacobs after he sexually harassed her, Rue was impressed and the pair became best friends very quickly. Only briefly after their friendship began, Rue started to develop romantic feelings for Jules. As Rue fell in love with Jules, Jules started talking to a boy named "Tyler" on a gay dating app and quickly became enamored with him. After a failed meet-up with Tyler (who turned out to be Nate catfishing her), Jules found comfort in Rue's safe arms and they began an ambiguous romantic relationship.
Rue and Jules's relationship soured over time, due to the pressure Rue felt to keep sober (and, in turn, the pressure Jules felt to support her) and Nate's malicious blackmailing. Jules eventually confesses this to Rue, and the two make drunken plans to run away and live together in another city. That being said, Rue gets cold feet at the last moment and decides she doesn't want to leave after all (citing mental health and her family worrying as potential factors), and Jules carries out the plan without her.
In the second special episode Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob, Jules sees her therapist over the Christmas holiday, and talks about Rue and their very dysfunctional and complicated relationship. She tells her therapist "No girl had ever looked me the way Rue did. I feel like Rue is the first girl that didn't just look at me". "At the same time though I'm like really angry at Rue, I feel like her sobriety is completely dependent on how available I am to her."
She imagines her and Rue in the future in a New York apartment. They're happy, carefree and full of joy until the dream abruptly turns into a nightmare with Rue overdosing in the bathroom.
Jules clearly cares deeply for Rue as a person. But the pressure the relationship puts on her is detrimental and Jules ends up choosing non-ideal ways of escaping the complex trauma bond.
Nate Jacobs[]
| ā | You're kind. You're smart. You're generous. You got a big heart. You deserve whatever the fuck it is in this world that you want. So keep your head down. Keep your mouth shut. Don't try to ruin my life, and I won't have to ruin yours. | ā |
| ā Nate Jacobs to Jules[src] | ||
In the first episode, Nate harasses Jules twice: he catcalls her when she's riding on her bicycle, and picks her out of a crowd and threatens her when they meet again at a party. He is clearly extremely attracted to her and chooses to go about it in an extremely unhealthy fashion. The latter incident causes Jules to have an emotional outburst, as she pulls a knife on him and later cuts herself to prove that nothing can hurt her. Jules standing up for herself clearly fascinates and visibly scares Nate. Jules is shown to be the only person outside of his father to have that ability. After discovering Jules slept with Cal (off screen, presumably after the pilot and before the second episode) Nate created a false online identity named Tyler and began to talk to Jules, tricking her into sending him sexual photos. Though it's implied that his initial intention was only to protect his father, he starts to develop romantic feelings during their conversations.
At the carnival, Nate (still pretending to be the fictional Tyler) asks Jules to meet him by the lake, professing his romantic feelings to her. He initially kisses her and puts his finger in her mouth, asking her to "open her mouth", which mirrors how his father treated her when the two were involved sexually. When Jules tells Nate to stop, Nate returns to his usual surface-level aggressive self and threatens to go to the police with Jules' nudes, which would cause her to be registered as a sex offender and ruin her life, unless she keeps quiet about Cal. Soon after Nate was accused of assaulting Maddy at the carnival, he used the leverage he had on Jules to force her to lie to the police about seeing Maddy assaulted by the actual Tyler, putting the real Tyler in jail. Though Jules is extremely hurt and hates Nate for blackmailing and threatening her, she has an attraction to him, as she is still in love with the "Tyler" side of him. This is shown when she hallucinates Nate/Tyler in the club, confirming she fell in love with Tyler. Nate seems to continue to have feelings for Jules as well, following her, watching her house at night, staring at her and complimenting her to Rue.
In the second special episode Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob, Jules' dad forces her to see a therapist after everything she went through in Season 1 and prior to the show starting. During this session she expresses and delves further into her complicated feelings for and toward Nate. She tells her therapist that despite knowing Tyler's true identity - she's still in love with him, and she doesn't know when that's going to change. She also reveals just how much the two used to text and we hear a few voice overs of Nate's text messages. A few very sexual, a few soothing and comforting. Jules also reveals that the best sexual experience she's ever had was sexting with him. She admits that she feels like she got to know him better than anyone else in her life - even Rue. Her heart was clearly destroyed and she's far from over everything that happened between them.
We then see a fantasy montage of Jules with how she imagined Tyler to look like. They're having sex, they're happy and they're laughing. It's also interesting to note that fantasy Tyler looks a lot like actual Nate. Jules clearly has difficulty separating the two. The montage quickly turns sour however and we see fantasy Tyler turn into real Nate. He's on top of her, pleading with her not to look at him and the dream turns into a full blown nightmare.
In Trying To Get to Heaven Before They Close The Door Nate is very wistfully staring at her from across the the room at the New Year's Party. She notices and looks visibly angry and hurt. She then turns to Kat and tells her "My goal tonight is to black out this entire fÕ½cking stupid year."
Then in A Thousand Little Trees of Blood Nate gives her the disk of her and Cal in the motel room. She's first afraid to meet up with him considering their history. But he makes it clear he isn't there to hurt her and ends up revealing that his feelings for her were real and true all along. She ends up admitting the same. We see her visibly soften a bit, yet still apprehensive. She stands in the rain and watches him in his car for a long time before going back inside her house. He remains parked until after she leaves.
We also see Elliott say a lot of the same things to her that Nate used to text her. In particular calling her fascinating. She responds to it immediately. She's clearly against her better judgement still very affected by Nate and extremely conflicted when it comes to her feelings for him.
Cal Jacobs[]
| ā | Look, I know you have the power to ruin my life right now. I'm begging you, pleading with you, please don't. | ā |
| ā Cal Jacobs to Jules[src] | ||
During the night of Nate's party, Cal Jacobs, his father, under his āDominantDaddyā profile, persuaded Jules to meet him in a motel. Unaware that she was underaged, Cal had sex with Jules. At the carnival, Jules pointed out that the guy running the chilli stand was the man she had sex with, to Rueās disbelief, as she told him who it was. After seeing his reaction to Jules, Rue became convinced. At the same time, Cal discovered Jules attended his son's school and that he committed statutory rape. He later approached her in the carnival, as he was afraid Jules was going to expose him and pleaded her to keep his secret, much to Jules' shock, as she never intended to do anything.
Anna[]
Anna and Jules had a bit of a romantic relationship. Anna seemed interested in Jules in season 1 but Jules wasn't really available for her. Anna even asked her whether she only hooks up with men or not. During the party scene in the club, it is seen that Anna and Jules make out and hook up later, even though Jules seems to only think about Rue. Jules even asks Anna, "Should I text Rue?"
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Elliot[]
Jules and Elliot's relationship is kind of complicated. It seems like they both have feelings for each other but also for Rue. They started out as friends at the start of season 2 but ended up hooking up as season 2 progressed.
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Friends[]
TC[]
TC is an old friend of Jules'. She goes to visit them and Jules stays with TC and Anna. TC and Jules and have a very fun and comfortable relationship.
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Kat Hernandez[]
| ā | Bitch, this isn't the '80s. You need to catch a dick. | ā |
| ā Jules to Kat[src] | ||
Kat was the first person she met from East Highland High School.
Maddy Perez[]
Maddy and Jules have a good relationship on the surface and they're seen hanging around each other a few times. They aren't in many scenes alone together while interacting except in season 2 episode 2 where they went to the bowling alley and Jules told Maddy, "I wish you could see yourself the way the rest of the world does." indicting she has a sense of affection towards Maddy.
Jules however is unaware that Maddy was in possession of a sex tape of her and Cal Jacobs since the finale episode of season 1. Maddy keeps it from Jules and even considers using it to get back at Nate in A Thousand Little Trees of Blood. Suggesting that Jules isn't all that important to her. We never get to see if she'd go through with it though, because Nate acquires it through force and immediately gives it to Jules.
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Lexi Howard[]
| ā | It's because of you, you know? | ā |
| ā Lexi to Jules[src] | ||
In the fifth episode, Rue, Jules and Lexi go rollerskating. While Rue goes another lap in the ring, Jules and Lexi take of their rollerblades. Lexi talks about how good Rue's been feeling and saying that it's because of Jules.
Cassie Howard[]
Jules and Cassie don't interact much other than in rooms with mutual friends. In And Salt The Earth Behind You they sat at the same table at prom. They also briefly greeted each other in the hallway in Out of Touch.
The show does play a lot with parallels between the two girls. They both crave male validation although they go about it in two very different ways. The show has also hinted that Cassie reminds Nate of Jules. He sees flashes of Jules in his dreams with Cassie and very clearly describes Jules when Rue as the narrator talks about his feelings for 'Cassie'.
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Appearances[]
| Euphoria: Special Episodes | |||
| Trouble Don't Last Always | Fuck Anyone Who's Not a Sea Blob | ||
Quotes[]
| ā | Bitch, this isn't the '80s. You need to catch a dick. | ā |
| ā Jules to Kat[src] | ||
| ā | You wanna fucking hurt me? You have no fucking idea. See? I'm fucking invincible! | ā |
| ā Jules to Nate[src] | ||
| ā | Rue, this is the difference between, like, you and me. Like... I don't always get the privilege of meeting people in front of a fucking audience. People here know I'm trans... | ā |
| ā Jules to Rue[src] | ||
| ā | I hate everyone else in the world but you. | ā |
| ā Jules to Rue[src] | ||
- Jules: "I remember walking out of Sears with my first pair of heels in my backpack. And my heart was fucking racing. And I got home, and went straight to my room, locked the door, put 'em on... And, I just... felt like... I was collecting herbs, or making potions in order to up my manna, you know? Like, it started with that, and then it was clothes, and then it was makeup, and eventually hormones. Um, I just kind of kept leveling up."
- Anna: "So, what level are you at now?"
- Jules: "I don't know. But I definitely haven't reached my full power."
- ―Jules and Anna[src]
- Jules: "Why don't I trust you?"
- Elliot: "Is it the face tats?"
- ―Jules and Elliot[src]
Trivia[]
- Jules likes watching anime; most notably, she is a fan of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which she binge watches and has a phone lockscreen of. During "Stuntin' Like My Daddy", she can be heard watching a scene from the tenth episode in her bedroom.
- In "The Next Episode", Jules dresses up as Juliet Capulet from the 1996 film Romeo + Juliet for Halloween.
- In her room, next to her door, Jules has a picture of Hari Nef. Nef previously starred in "Assassination Nation" , one of Levinson's projects prior to Euphoria.
- According to Doniella Davy, one of Euphoriaās makeup artists, Julesā makeup looks are meant to convey her true emotions.
- In "The Next Episode", she is seen reciting quote from Juliet in Act II scene II: "I have no joy of this contract tonight. It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be" when trashed in the pool.
- Hunter Schafer, Jules' actress, in a Refinery29 interview stated that Jules left even without Rue because the city had easy access to queer communities than in the suburb.
Gallery[]
- See also: Category:Images of Jules Vaughn
