'Euphoria' star Nika King says that she and Storm Reid let Zendaya 'be a wild child' when filming intense scenes with her: 'We let her do her thing'

• Warning: There are major spoilers ahead for season two, episode five of HBO's teen drama "Euphoria."
• Nika King and Storm Reid spoke to Insider about filming intense scenes with their costar, Zendaya.

"Euphoria" star Nika King said that she and costar Storm Reid give Zendaya space to "do her thing" when filming intense scenes together.

"We just let her be a wild child," King, who stars as Zendaya's on-screen mom named Leslie Bennett, told Insider. "We let her do her thing. We let her have her moments. It's ebb and flow, it's give and take."

King continued: "I would imagine, and I can speak for myself, there's no fear when we're together. There's just complete love for each other and love for the characters. We love these characters and I think when you love something, you want to represent them in the best light. And sometimes, in our show, the best light is also the darkness of it."

"Euphoria," which is written and directed by creator Sam Levinson, returned for its second season in January.

The teen drama picks up after the season one cliffhanger and shows how Rue Bennett's (Zendaya) addiction to drugs continues to send her into a downward spiral.

The episodes released so far as part of season two have shown the way her habit negatively affects her relationships with her Narcotics Anonymous sponsor Ali (Colman Domingo), her romance with Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer), and her dynamics with her mom Leslie and younger sister Gia (Reid).

Episode five, which aired on Sunday night, opens with Leslie confronting Rue about secretly doing drugs after Jules ratted her out. Rue, in turn, yells at Leslie and Gia. She insults her mom's parenting skills, pushes Gia, and gets slapped in the face by Leslie.

After Leslie kicks Rue out of Gia's room, Rue busts open the door with her body, screams, and tears up the house looking for the suitcase of drugs she was given from a dealer named Laurie as part of a business deal.

The whole interaction leaves Rue crying on the floor and apologizing for her behavior, Gia shaken and tearful, and Leslie trying to retain her composure as she watches her daughter spiral.

It takes an even nastier turn when Rue learns that Jules and Elliot (Dominic Fike) have been in the house the entire time and witnessed her tantrum. She insults both of them and spits particularly harsh words at Jules, her girlfriend.

Reid and King said that having already played their characters during season one made it easier to get into the right headspace for this season's dark, emotionally charged scenes.

"It comes naturally now," Reid said. "We understand that we have to go deep, and we have to be authentic, and we have to be gritty, and we have to be real."

The actress said that it "might be challenging," but she approaches such material "with a lot of gratitude because I am able to depict a real person's situation and stories."

"People go through these circumstances all the time, so the fact that I am able to portray that or depict that in any way is hard, but it's really cool at the same time," she said. "That's how I look at it, and I always look forward to the dramatic, gritty, scenes, because they're always really, really, good on television."

For King, playing a parent demands her to tap into a different kind of headspace than Reid.

"Getting into Leslie's mind, her body, her spirit, and also being authentic in telling her story requires a headspace of just letting go," King said. "No judgment. Making sure that every move, every word, every step I'm taking, I'm portraying a woman who can possibly lose a child."

The actress said that she doesn't have kids, but "I would imagine as a parent, you never think that your child will leave this earth before you do. And so for me, that headspace always comes into 'Save her. Save her.' Those words are always resonating in my mind."

"Season two, we see Rue go down a very dark path, and my objective still and will always be [to] save her."

Season two of "Euphoria" airs on HBO on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.