When it comes to drama, The White Lotus always delivers. However, when it comes to Season 3, it’s what may or may not have gone down behind the scenes that has fans talking the most. Based on what cast members have said in interviews — not to mention some shady social media behavior — it seems The White Lotus Season 3 cast had quite a bit of drama… which begs the question: WTF happened during those six months in Thailand?
Look, when you have such a big group of people all in one place together, you’re bound to encounter some friction. (Anyone who tried to plan a group trip to PCB for spring break can attest to this.) But according to rumors (and confirmation of some rumors), there may have been more than just petty bickering among pals on set.
First, let’s set the scene: Season 3 of The White Lotus filmed from February to August 2024, with the cast and crew primarily staying at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, which is also where the show was primarily filmed. Safe to say, they were all in very close quarters for an extended period of time. Based on cast interviews and behind-the-scenes photos shared on social media, you might be led to believe that this experience bonded the cast and crew — snaps of the Ratliff siblings (Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Sam Nivola) and the blonde trio (Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, and Michelle Monaghan) make it look like they all really became one big, happy family. But clearly, that wasn’t actually the case.
Let’s break down everything that’s known about The White Lotus Season 3 cast drama so far.
Jason Isaacs (Timothy Ratliff) has spilled a ton of tea.
The most vocal of the cast members about what went down behind the scenes is Jason Isaacs, who plays Daddy Ratliff on the show. (Mark my words: The messiest person you’ll ever meet is a middle-aged straight man.) Isaacs has gone on record multiple times to share that the dynamic among the cast wasn’t as lovey-dovey as you might expect.
“It was like a cross between summer camp and Lord of the Flies but in a gilded cage,” he told Vulture in a March 30 interview. “It wasn’t a holiday. Some people got very close, there were friendships that were made and friendships that were lost. All the things you would imagine with a group of people unanchored from their home lives on the other side of the world, in the intense pressure cooker of the working environment with eye-melting heat and insects and late nights. They say in the show, ‘What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand,’ but there’s an off-screen White Lotus as well, with fewer deaths but just as much drama.”
He also said in a February interview with The Guardian, “I can’t pretend I wasn’t involved in some off-screen drama … We’ll all see one other again and I’m sure we’ll be hugging and kissing and remembering it fondly. But there were times when things were not quite so fond.”
Isaacs hasn’t named names regarding which friendships ended — or explained why, exactly, they ended — but he did make it clear that he doesn’t have beef with his onscreen kids, making it a point to talk up his relationship with (and share photos of) Schwarzenegger, Hook, and Nivola. Notably, he hasn’t said much about his off-screen relationship with his on-screen wife, Parker Posey.
Other cast members alluded to the vibes on set.
Wood, who plays Chelsea, also noted filming wasn’t as fun as one might hope. “I don’t know whether I’d describe it as fun,” she said in a March interview with The Guardian. “There were fun moments. It was more like… amazing in the true sense. I was amazed by what was happening. How am I in Thailand? Living in a hotel, that we also film in? It was like a social experiment.” That said, Wood also made it a point to discuss the great friendships she formed on set, specifically with her on-screen BF, Walton Goggins, Nicholas Duvernay (who play’s Belinda’s son, Zion), and Leslie Bibb.
Similarly, Goggins mentioned being isolated on set — though that was more so due to him needing to get in character for Rick, who isn’t known to be a ray of sunshine. “More often than not, my chair is separate,” he said on the official The White Lotus podcast about his time filming. “I sit on my own. I do my own thing … I just couldn’t be around them. They didn’t understand why I was there. This guy is isolated… And that wasn’t any fun, you know, to separate yourself from a group in that way. That was really, really challenging.”
SOme Cast Members Don’t follow each other on Instagram.
Some internet sleuths have shared observations about which cast members follow each other… and which don’t. Isaacs, for example, follows all three of his show-kids on IG, but Posey is notably absent from his follow list. Posey, for her part, doesn’t seem to be following anyone from the show (although, to be fair, she only follows a total of 20 accounts).
Of course, IG follows should be taken with a grain of salt and not be seen as confirmation of a feud. Sometimes, people just don’t keep up with who they follow (or don’t) on IG.
The show’s composer won’t return for season 4.
OK, this is more about the crew than the cast, but still! In an April 2 interview with The New York Times, Cristóbal Tapia de Veer (creator of all three seasons’ iconic theme songs) revealed he would not return to TWL after Season 3, citing some pretty strong creative differences with show creator, Mike White. “I feel like this was, you know, a rock ’n’ roll band story,” he said. “I was like, ‘OK, this is like a rock band I’ve been in before where the guitar player doesn’t understand the singer at all.’” He added, “Maybe I was being unprofessional, and for sure, Mike feels that I was always unprofessional to him because I didn’t give him what he wanted.”
So, it seems like the vibes were off even in post-production. Yikes!