This article contains major spoilers for episode six of The White Lotus.
Sam Nivola is dishing on that scene from The White Lotus.
The actor—who plays Lochlan Ratliff on season three of Mike White‘s HBO hit—recalled what it was like filming the threesome scene with Patrick Schwarzenegger, who plays his brother Saxon, and Charlotte Le Bon, who plays the third person in their drug-fueled sexcapades, Chloe.
“In the scene, Patrick and I are brothers, with this girl who we just met like the day before,” Sam told Variety in an interview published aired the episode aired March 23. “It was very weird kissing Patrick because he’s a really good friend of mine. And, you know, I’m straight, he’s straight. It’s already weird.”
“It would have been easier if that was the first time we were meeting,” the 21-year-old continued. “Weirdly, it was easier to do things with Charlotte because there were no stakes. It’s just this person I’ve just met.”
Because Sam had already struck up a deep connection with Patrick—who he “knew very well” after filming together for weeks at that point—having to film a sex scene with him mirrored their own characters’ discomfort.
“Patrick was already like a brother to me,” the Perfect Couple actor explained. “It felt sort of f–ked up.”
Adding fuel to the fire was that it was Sam’s first time ever filming a sex scene.
“I was totally nervous,” he shared. “I’m a very anxious person, so I’m always nervous, especially on a big job like that. Doing the sex scene was nerve-racking, and we were on a boat, and I get seasick, so that was f–king stressful. The actual scene itself went smoothly. Mike White was sort of calming about it, and I really trusted Patrick and Charlotte.”
And, while the White Noise actor got hints during the audition process that something sexual might go down between his and Patrick’s characters, he didn’t confirm as much until he was flying to Thailand to start production on the season.
“I remember talking to Patrick Schwarzenegger, and one of his audition scenes was the scene with Chloe where she’s like, ‘Your brother jerked you off last night. You don’t remember?’ And he’s like, ‘No, I totally blacked out.’ So he told me that, and I was like, ‘Weird… I wonder what that’s all about,'” Sam explained. “Then we both had to sign in our contracts that we were comfortable with nude scenes on camera. Then we got the scripts about a week later, and I read all of them in one sitting, on the plane to Thailand.”
As for Patrick, the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver was similarly left in the dark for what his character gets up to until he read the scripts.
“I mean, we had an idea, it’s The White Lotus and there’s going to be something crazy,” he told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published March 23. “And then I started to read the scripts and, yeah, when I got to episode 5 and episode 6, it was like, ‘Whoa. This is wild. This is crazy.'”
“I have full faith and trust in Mike White and his writing and what he’s done so successfully on other seasons and on other shows,” Patrick continued. “I remember him texting me and being like, ‘It’s going to be great.’ And it’s going to start a conversation.”
Keep reading for more on the White Lotus season three cast…
Lalisa Manobal
How you like that? The singer known mononymously as Lisa went from being a rockstar on world stages as part of K-pop group Blackpink—alongside Jisoo, Jennie and Rosé—to donning the White Lotus staff uniform for her big debut as Mook.
Jason Isaacs
Looks like Lucius Malfoy missed the train to Hogwarts and instead landed at The White Lotus. That’s right: He may look different without the luscious blond hair, but the Harry Potter star is returning to the screen as another uppity father figure, playing Timothy Ratliff, described as a “wealthy businessman vacationing with his wife and three children.”
Isaacs has also made more recent appearances on TV shows like Robot Chicken, The Great and Sex Education (alongside his White Lotus costar Aimee Lou Wood.)
Parker Posey
Don’t scream when you see it, but Posey—who plays Timothy’s wife Victoria Ratliff—may look familiar from her movies Superman Returns, Blade: Trinity, Scream 3 and Dazed and Confused. She’s also had brief stints on such TV shows as Parks and Recreation, New Girl, Portlandia and Search Party.
But the real rom-com fans will know her from the 1998 classic You’ve Got Mail, in which she played Joe Fox’s (Tom Hanks) girlfriend Patricia Eden.
Patrick Schwarzenegger
While you may know him best from family photos as the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver,he has already made a name for himself acting in Gen V, The Terminal List and The Staircase before playing Saxon Ratliff in season three.
Sarah Catherine Hook
Prior to taking on the part of the Ratliffs’ daughter Piper, Hook got her feet wet in the horror and fantasy genres, portraying Debbie Glatzel in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Juliette Fairmont in First Kill and Elena Milak in Monsterland.
You may also know her from the 2024 Cruel Intentions remake as Caroline Merteuil or from the Ryan Murphy cinematic universe, in which she played Catherine Allday Davis in Impeachment: American Crime Story about the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Sam Nivola
Nivola—who is dating Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann‘s daughter Iris Apatow—rounds out the Ratliff family as young Lochlan. But before hitting the shores of Thailand, he was in another show about a rich family at the beach: The Perfect Couple, playing Will Winbury, the son of Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber‘s Greer and Tag Winbury. He even costarred on the Netflix drama with White Lotus alum Meghann Fahy, who appeared as Daphne Sullivan on season two of the HBO show before playing Merritt Monaco on ThePerfect Couple.
Nivola has also acted in White Noise with Adam Driver, Maestro with Bradley Cooper and With/In with Anne Hathaway.
Natasha Rothwell
Of course, White Lotus fans will recognize Rothwell from season one, in which she played spa guru Belinda in Maui. Not only is she reprising the part for season three, but the actress has also graced the screen in Insecure, Wonka, A Year and Change and Love, Simon. Plus, she lent her comedy chops to Saturday Night Live as a writer from 2014 to 2015.
Leslie Bibb
The Iron Man alum is assembling to play Kate in The White Lotus after portraying Christine Everhart in the Marvel franchise. More recently, she starred in Palm Royale as Dinah Donahue and Jupiter’s Legacy as Grace Kennedy-Sampson.
Carrie Coon
The Gilded Age star—who may also look familiar from The Sinner, Fargo and The Leftovers—steps into the role of Laurie, who joins pals Kate and Jaclyn for a girls’ trip in Thailand this season.
Michelle Monaghan
While Monaghan plays TV star Jaclyn on The White Lotus, she’s also a TV star IRL, having been on True Detective, Bad Monkey, Messiah and The Path. On the big screen, she’s starred as Julia in Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Angie Genaro in Gone Baby Gone.
Walton Goggins
You’ll feel justified in knowing that it’s not all in your head—Goggins really does look familiar. In addition to starring in two Quentin Tarantino movies (playing Billy Crash in Django Unchained and Sheriff Chris Mannix in The Hateful Eight), he is also known for being Boyd Crowder in Justified from 2010 to 2015.
Aimee Lou Wood
The English actress joins the cast in season three as free-spirited Chelsea, who has an age-gap romance with Goggins’ character Rick Hatchett. Yet, she is best known for her role as Aimee Gibbs on Netflix’s Sex Education and also appeared in Seize Them! and Daddy Issues.
Lek Patravadi
Her acting credits may trace back 50 years—starting with Grounded God in 1975—but she most recently portrayed Prani Chiraanan on In Family We Trust in 2018.
Tayme Thapthimthong
The singer and former military man has acting credits that include Mechanic: Resurrection, Skin Trade and Paradox, as well as playing Pao on the TV series Farang.
Christian Friedel
If 13 minutes wasn’t enough time to figure out where you recognize the German actor, allow us to refresh your memory. He played Rudolf Höss in The Zone of Interest, Reinhold Gräf in Babylon Berlin and Georg Elser in 13 Minutes.
