To check into “The White Lotus” you have to play by the rules.
Despite the cast of the HBO drama ranging from veteran actors to rising stars, the paycheck is equal for each person.
“Everyone is treated the same on ‘The White Lotus,’” one of the show’s producers, David Bernad, told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday. “They get paid the same, and we do alphabetical billing, so you’re getting people who want to do the project for the right reasons, not to quote ‘The Bachelor.’”
This pay system has been in place since Season 1 of the show in 2021, when the cast included Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario and Sydney Sweeney.
The current season takes place in Thailand and stars Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
THR reported that the series regulars make around $40,000 an episode, which equals $320,000 for the entire eight-episode season.
Bernad and “The White Lotus” casting director, Meredith Tucker, explained that having a fixed and equal salary for their regulars evens the playing field.
“It makes it so much easier,” Tucker stated. “You tell people this is what it is. And some won’t do it — and honestly, you can’t hold it against people who need to make a living. Our series regulars are pretty much doing this for scale.”
Bernad chimed in: “And it’s not negotiable.”
“I think people love this show so much that they’re willing to audition,” Tucker added.
Despite auditioning, not every actor actually wanted to follow through with the show’s third season after hearing about the incest storyline between brothers Lochlan and Saxon Ratliff.
Tucker shared that actors who auditioned for the roles of Lochlan and Saxon ended up dropping out because they were “uncomfortable” with the material.
“For that stuff with the brothers, we had to tell people beforehand,” she revealed to the outlet. “We said, ‘There is going to be some same-sex kissing and stuff. Are you comfortable with that?’”
“I think maybe one kid for Sam’s role dropped out,” Tucker continued, “but some of these kids were barely 18, so I could understand.”
Sam Nivola, 21, and Schwarzenegger, 31, took on the respective roles of Lochlan and Saxon, but there were still concerns early on if they would exit early after reading the scripts for the incest scenes.
“When we sent the scripts to Patrick and Sam, Mike and I were both like, ‘I hope they don’t drop out,’” Bernad said of himself and “The White Lotus” creator Mike White. “Mike made me text Patrick. We were anxious.”
Nivola ended up having no problem with the hookup even if he was “not expecting” it at first.
“When they sent me my contract, it was like, ‘You have to be comfortable with sexually explicit scenes or whatever,’” the young star told THR. “And I was like, ‘Sure, yeah, I’ve never really done anything like that on camera — first time for everything.’ But I was not expecting that!”
“The White Lotus” Season 3 finale airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and Max.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
