Why you kind of recognize every actor in The White Lotus

Each season, The White Lotus features a new cast to portray the wealthy guests of the fictional White Lotus luxury resort chain. But most of these new faces are character actors, rather than A-list stars. That leaves viewers to ask the question: where else have I seen this actor before?

Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with critics Kathryn Van Arendonk and Jackson Weaver about the choices behind each actor in Season 3 of The White Lotus. 

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, where the panel also discusses the Severance finale, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Kathryn, this conversation started with Mike White, who is the creator of White Lotus, with his approach to casting. He's doing something very intentional in terms of the groupings of people that he pulls together. Michael Imperioli in the last season, [Connie] Britton in the first season, I think these are very specific choices that he's making. I want to talk about how casting shows up in The White Lotus for you.

Kathryn: Mike White casts people for White Lotus in the way that one casts Avengers for The Avengers. These are people who have a distinct flavour already. He's not a blank slate kind of a person. And it shows up in different ways. So Jennifer Coolidge is a great example. Parker Posey is another one, where it's like, "I know what a Parker Posey is. I know what kinds of characters they can play, I know what their roles are, what their roles have been in the past." And so then their roles in White Lotus are going to be bringing in a very specific energy that he is casting for that person, and it will be part of the narrative of what their career has been to date. The Connie Britton role is like that in the first season. I  think there's several people who do that in Season 3, particularly the three women [Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Monaghan]. But the other thing that he will do is there are lots of people who are even less known than we have been talking about, somebody like Patrick Schwarzenegger, who has not had that many like major roles. And what he's casting him for is: "Hey, I need an incredibly wealthy family with a super hot and entitled son. Should I get a Schwarzenegger? Is that going to do it?"

Elamin: And the answer is yes, by the way, he absolutely does it.  

To me, one of the best names of this kind of category is, of course, Walton Goggins. Walton Goggins shows up in so many TV shows, so many movies that he's the one who makes those scenes, he really transforms those scenes. I want to take a moment to give Walton Goggins his flowers, because his facial expressions take [the show] to the next level…. Jackson, what makes Walton Goggins such an extraordinary presence? 

Jackson: I mean, he's an amazing actor. He's had a huge career for a reason because he knows how to act, he knows how to put on a facial expression. Going back to my thesis for why I'm so interested in the character acting, casting decisions in the show is that Walton Goggins is so often a villain: Justified, The Shield, Fallout. I was watching, randomly, for no reason, Bourne Identity last night, and I was like, wait, "Walton Goggins?" He's all over the place, and not necessarily primacy of place, but always this, like, not one-dimensional, but this evil, kind of creepy guy. Django Unchained as well, that creepy knife scene.

[In White Lotus], we have a similar sort of character, but one that gets depth to it, pathos to it, explanation for it, potentially — maybe — redemption for it. And it's something that I think is so often built into the best character actors' careers, where towards the end, they get to play something that really exemplifies what the roles and careers that they've been gifted up into that point have meant to them — and also an opportunity to break out of it. And I think here he is, as I said before, showing off how amazing character actors can be in the acting chops, but also showing off that: "There is more to me than just creepy ghoul in Fallout. There's something that I can build out from there and make you love me." 

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jess Low.