Possible incest and Parker Posey’s Southern accent: Inside ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3’s strange new family
Season 3 of The White Lotus has only just begun. Still, fans of the megahit HBO series have already clocked that the Ratliffs — aka wealthy North Carolinians Timothy (Jason Isaacs), Victoria (Parker Posey), Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) — aren’t your typical American family.
The first episode sees this season’s guests arrive at the Thai resort via boat, upon which the Ratliffs get into a verbal (and almost physical) spat with unbothered smoker Rick (Walton Goggins). Who the Ratliffs are becomes even more apparent as they soon brag to staff about their alma maters (Duke and UNC Chapel Hill, naturally) and throw fits about the resort’s lack of Wi-Fi. However, their family dynamic is most apparent at their first dinner together, where they clash over plans for high school senior Lochlan’s future and start to keep secrets from one another. Isaacs and Posey, in particular, shine during family scenes thanks to their slightly unhinged Southern accents, which Schwarzenegger, Hook, and Nivola don’t adopt.
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According to Hook, whose character Piper often begs her parents to act normally, finding the rhythm of their group scenes wasn’t easy. “We really had to kind of figure it out on the day,” she tells Gold Derby. “We didn’t really meet until we all got to Thailand. You know, we’d hang out and have our own little family dinners together and get to know one another [later in the filming process], but it was kind of a lot.”
SEE ‘Holy cow, this is a dream come true’: Meet the cast of ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3
The first scene they shot as a family unit was the younger cast members’ introduction to how Isaacs and Posey would play their parents. “I remember the very first breakfast scene that we did, which is in Episode 2,” shares Hook. “That was the first time the five of us were in one spot together. That was the first time that we’d heard their accents, and that was pretty huge. Also, every actor has different methods. They all work very differently, so it was a chaotic day, to say the least. But it was cool because right off the bat, it was lots of energy, excitement, and craziness. It set the tone for all our filming together as a family.”
When asked about working opposite Posey, Isaacs credits the hilarity and chemistry in those scenes to the show’s creator, Mike White. “What makes Parker a great scene partner is what makes Patrick and all of them great scene partners,” says Isaac. “It’s Mike’s writing. He writes these characters that are so layered and nuanced that they never do what you expect. He establishes them initially, and we all think, ‘Oh, I know that person. I understand what they’re saying,’ and then they’re sideswiped by circumstance or tripped over by their own complex personalities. In this particular season, because it’s Thailand, in this spiritual search for identity, they all question who they are and how they could be. I’d like to take credit for [the chemistry], but it’s all Mike’s.”
Fans of the series flocked to X after the first episode aired to speculate about a different type of chemistry that seemed to be brewing between Saxon and Lochlan. A few uncomfortable questions and lingering glances suggest “brotherly love” might take on a new meaning as the season progresses. Rest assured, we’ll be tuning in for it all.
The White Lotus airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.
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