‘The White Lotus’ star reveals why her storyline can be triggering
“The White Lotus” star Michelle Monaghan talks to Ralphie Aversa about how the female friendship story line is so relatable and toxic.
Turns out there’s more to Laurie’s character in “The White Lotus” than what meets the eye.
Carrie Coon, who plays the New York-based corporate lawyer on the hit HBO series, said in a recent interview that the show’s creators decided to drop some details on her backstory following President Donald Trump’s re-election last December.
According to Coon, Laurie had a nonbinary, or possibly transgender child and the scene which featured her mentioning them was not included in the final cut.
“There was a bit more context to her home life,” Coon said in a Harper’s Bazaar interview published Friday. “You originally found out that her daughter was actually non-binary, maybe trans, and going by they/them.”
“You see Laurie struggling to explain it to her friends, struggling to use they/them pronouns, struggling with the language, which was all interesting,” she continued. “It was only a short scene, but for me, it did make the question (in Episode 3) of whether Kate voted for Trump so much more provocative and personally offensive to Laurie, considering who her child is in the world.”
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‘White Lotus’ creator thought topic was too big for a ‘scene so small’
Coon added the season was written prior to the election and the show’s creator, Mike White (also of “Survivor” fame), felt the scene was too “small” to handle a “topic so big” following Trump’s win and his administration’s attacks against the transgender community, which explains why it might have been cut from the episode that aired.
“The season was written before the election,” Coon said in the interview. “And considering the way the Trump administration has weaponized the cultural war against transgender people even more since then, when the time came to cut the episode down, Mike felt that the scene was so small and the topic so big that it wasn’t the right way to engage in that conversation.”
‘Fun to watch Mike’s characters’
Season 3 of “The White Lotus” is set in Thailand, where Laurie, a recent divorcée, is vacationing with her longtime girlfriends Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) with tensions brewing between the three from the minute they arrived at the all-inclusive resort. In Episode 3, Leslie, a Texas housewife, reveals that she goes to church and married a Republican who voted for Trump (the show was written in 2022 and filmed last year) setting the stage for an awkward dinner.
Elaborating further on the buzzy scene, Coon praised White for not shying away from “challenging cultural conversations.”
“That’s why it’s fun to watch Mike’s characters,” Coon told Harper’s Bazaar. “They’re not just one thing.”
Coon credited “The White Lotus’” creator’s upbringing and childhood for his complex characters.
“Mike White grew up in the evangelical church,” Coon said. “He grew up in some pretty specific communities, some of which were maybe not as welcoming to him, ultimately. His father wrote a very influential book about what it was like to come out as a gay man himself in the evangelical church as an adult, which a lot of young men have read and was a very meaningful text for them in their own journeys. So Mike doesn’t shy away from challenging cultural conversations, and I really appreciate that about his work.”
‘White Lotus’ Season 3 ending is ‘very unexpected’
Reflecting on the now-infamous scene and the relationship between their characters, Monaghan, in an interview with USA TODAY, said “people are having these very valid conversations and we’re constantly learning about one another,” in real time.
“What’s unique about this relationship, and I think (what) so many of us understand, it’s like we can be lifelong friends and we have shared history,” Monaghan said. “Just because we have that shared history doesn’t mean that we don’t go on to have different life experiences and be impacted in different ways that might change our values. And how all of those things impact conversations and political views is very relevant.”
In her interview with USA TODAY, Monaghan also teased the season’s ending “is very unexpected.”
“There’s drama all the way to the end, so I think you’re not going to be disappointed in terms of the way that is resolved or if it will be resolved,” Monaghan said. “True to Mike White fashion, the ending is very unexpected and it’s deeply emotional. It’ll be a very satisfying ending.”
How to watch ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 finale
“The White Lotus” Season 3 finale, titled “Amor Fati,” is scheduled to air on HBO on Sunday, April 6 and will be available to stream on Max at 9 p.m. EST/PST.
Watch The White Lotus Season 3 with Sling + Max
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Contributing: Mary Walrath-Holdridge, Julia Gomez, USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
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