Why Did Bishop Betray Alamo in ‘Euphoria’?
· Thought Catalog
Updated 8 minutes ago, June 1, 2026
Warning: Massive spoilers for the last episode of HBO’s Euphoria.
Ali (played by Colman Domingo) storms in armed and in military gear seeking revenge after Rue’s death from fentanyl-laced pills Alamo gave her. A tense Western-style duel breaks out between Ali and Alamo. Alamo tries to cheat by drawing early, but his gun clicks empty. Why?
Bishop (played impeccably by Darrell Britt-Gibson), his main enforcer, had quietly unloaded the bullets. Ali shoots Alamo dead. Bishop drops the bullets on the floor to make it obvious and tells Ali, “May God have mercy.”
It was just a simple power grab.
This is the most likely explanation, and remember the snake foreshadowing. Earlier, Bishop tells Rue the story of the snake that stops eating because it’s “sizing you up” for a bigger meal. It’s highly likely that’s what Bishop was doing to Alamo the whole time, and DEA pressure, internal paranoia, and betrayals gave him his chance to seize control.
Bishop is just a psycho.
Let’s not forget Bishop dismembered a crew member named Big Eddy (the guy who screwed up the Silver Slipper robbery and showed disloyalty) in a plastic-covered bathroom using an electric saw. Then he fed the body parts to Alamo’s pigs as a disposal method. So he could have done it purely out of the psychotic violence in his heart.
Bishop is in love with Maddy.
He vouched for her earlier when Alamo was deep in one of his paranoid spirals. On the drive to the Silver Slipper, Maddy teases him about his new poodle, Snowflake, and manages to crack the first real smile we’ve seen from the stone-faced enforcer all season. After the shooting, Bishop personally offers Maddy a ride home (Kitty follows behind).
Actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (who plays Alamo) even called it out in interviews, noting this may be “the first time we’ve seen Bishop be favorable toward a woman” and that he “has intentions for her.”
But the strongest and most revealing detail is the dog. Bishop bringing Snowflake along humanizes him in a way we’ve never seen before — it shows a softer, almost domestic side beneath the violence and silence. The poodle isn’t just cute set dressing; it signals that we’re meant to view Bishop differently in these moments, because he’s choosing to save Maddy. He betrays Alamo at the exact moment Alamo is willing to use her as a human shield and drag her deeper into his world. Snowflake represents the part of Bishop that still wants something worth protecting.
Bishop is secretly DEA and he had to handle situation carefully.
DEA. Fans point to a stack of evidence that he’s been playing the long game from inside the crew.
He seems to know Rue’s “Mom” contact is actually her DEA handler. When he threatens her, he casually says it “would be awkward to lie to your mother” — then confiscates her bugged phone before throwing her in the pit instead of exposing her to Alamo. He’s protecting the operation, or Rue herself, or both.
The drug-run pull-over is another red flag. Only Bishop knew the exact route and car for the Laurie pickup, and the DEA tailed Rue almost the moment they left. How did they know unless someone tipped them?
Then there’s another reading of the snake parable in Episode 6. Bishop tells Rue the story of Sweet feeding her pet rat to the snake, but fans flip the roles: Alamo is Sweet, Bishop is the snake, and Rue is the rat he’s quietly feeding into a bigger operation to take Alamo down.
Darrell Britt-Gibson described playing Bishop as “a ninja in a world of cowboys”, silent, observant, visibly fatigued by Alamo’s erratic cruelty. That fits someone deep undercover. But also Bishop might also just be the smartest guy in the room and all this stuff is not because he is DEA but just cause he carefully observes and thinks about everything going on.
So what is the truth? It’s left open and it’s rather vague.
But I think it’s clear as day it was a power grab, also driven by his feelings for Maddy. Bishop is in too deep, and has done too many violent things, to be undercover for the DEA or even the FBI. Sam Levinson makes it clear that Bishop likes Maddy and is sick of working under Alamo, so when he sees how weak Alamo has become, willing to use Maddy as a human shield, he sees his opportunity to rise in the organization and takes it. And while Euphoria is officially over, a spin-off about Maddy is rumored and this would set that up perfectly.