As we prepare for the 32nd Actor Awards presented by SAG-AFTRA, Backstage is breaking down this year’s film and television ensemble nominees for your consideration.
Main cast: Leslie Bibb‚ Carrie Coon‚ Walton Goggins‚ Sarah Catherine Hook‚ Jason Isaacs‚ Lalisa Manobal‚ Michelle Monaghan‚ Sam Nivola‚ Lek Patravadi‚ Parker Posey‚ Natasha Rothwell‚ Patrick Schwarzenegger‚ Tayme Thapthimthong‚ and Aimee Lou Wood
Casting by: Meredith Tucker
Created by: Mike White
Distributed by: HBO
Season 3 of “The White Lotus” took audiences to Thailand, once again exposing the messy lives of wealthy resort guests. The sprawling cast wrung the maximum amount of delicious, squirm-inducing foibles from their characters.
The blue-blooded, Southern Ratliffs collectively learn the meaning of the word “facade.” As father Timothy, Jason Isaacs panics his way through concealing the family’s impending ruin. Parker Posey plays matriarch Victoria as a drawling space case who keeps oblivion at bay with pills. Patrick Schwarzenegger embodies machismo and then full-blown ego death as eldest son Saxon. And as deluded Piper and too-curious Lochlan, Sarah Catherine Hook and Sam Nivola explore different rude awakenings for their sheltered characters.
Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, and Michelle Monaghan portray a girls’ getaway as a viper pit, smiling and sniping as country-clubber Kate Bohr, insecure lawyer Laurie Duffy, and self-centered actor Jaclyn Lemon, respectively.
Ever-weathered Walton Goggins finds a child’s desperation inside vengeful Rick Hatchett. As Chelsea, his free-spirited girlfriend, Aimee Lou Wood introduces sunshine and wisdom to his sadness, while guest star Sam Rockwell, as his newly sober pal, adds a dose of dark levity.
Natasha Rothwell, returning from Season 1, juggles paranoia and sexual tension with a colleague (Dom Hetrakul) as visiting spa manager Belinda Lindsey. Tayme Thapthimthong gives viewers someone to root for as charmingly dim security guard Gaitok, who trips over himself to woo coworker Mook (Lalisa Manobal). And as resort owner Sritala Hollinger, Lek Patravadi personifies the glamour surrounding all that chaos.
Throw in a murder, and these clashing personalities make this Thai excursion as much a behavioral experiment as a vacation.