‘Very clever’ Lisa, Patrick Schwarzenegger on White Lotus season 3 characters to root for

The third season of HBO’s hit series The White Lotus is set in Koh Samui, Thailand, and stars Lalisa Manobal, better known as Lisa from K-pop girl group Blackpink. So the US pay-TV network chose to host its red carpet event for the Asia launch of the third season in Bangkok, Thailand, with Lisa the centre of attention. At the Iconsiam shopping centre overlooking the Chao Phraya River, the singer and now actress told screaming fans that the new season of The White Lotus “is my favourite season”, and described it as “spicy, juicy, crazy”. Patravadi “Lek” Mejudhon, a veteran Thai actress, who plays Sritala Hollinger, one of the White Lotus resort owners in the show, compliments the K-pop star for being “very clever” and “always polite” with “very, very good manners”. She seems “well-brought-up in Thai culture”, adds Patravadi, 76. Patravadi had retired from acting and was working as a drama teacher when she was called upon to return to the limelight in The White Lotus. The production team showed great commitment to getting her on the show, even auditioning her at her house. She was “very impressed” with Mike White, the creator, writer and director of the satirical anthology series, who she considered “a very interesting and intelligent guy”. One of the great joys of working in other countries is being reminded that ours is not only not the only way to live, but possibly very much not the best way to live. Jason Isaacs, who plays Timothy Ratliff “I read the script and thought, ‘Wow, this is unusual for Thailand. I should take this opportunity to learn and to do my duty as a Thai person’,” Patravadi says. She adds: “I’m very happy that I did, as it is beyond my expectations. I’m so proud of this production, which has really done a lot for my country.” Jason Isaacs, who plays Timothy Ratliff, a financier taking his family of five on holiday, says the new season is deeper and richer. White has grown as an artist and writer and was given licence, through the success of the franchise, to “explore the human condition more”, he says. “He’s too clever to repeat himself, so he doesn’t just reconstitute things,” Isaacs says. “He wants to dig deeper into the human soul, and as well as entertain and shock and surprise, he wants to make people think and feel in ways that maybe he’s not tried before, which is why he chose Thailand, a country that is built on these spiritual foundations.” Isaacs adds that the third season features “these incredibly laden and complex people”, such as his character, a “very arrogant, confident, entitled, privileged man who experiences questions of spiritual identity in Thailand”. “You’ll see there’s a lot of acting per square inch. I go pretty Shakespearean and epic. There’s a misconception that acting is pretending. I think acting is trying to be as close to the thing as possible and engaging your imagination. “The Ratliffs are a really messed up bunch of people. We’re gonna have a really, really terrible holiday and you’re gonna have a great time.” Patrick Schwarzenegger, who plays the eldest Ratliff son, says there are certain “humanising elements” about them and that the characters are people “you could enjoy watching and root for in a weird way”. Perhaps one of the more easily tolerable characters is Belinda Lindsey, played by Natasha Rothwell. The kind but meek spa manager at White Lotus Hawaii in the first season is one of a few returning characters. “She’s still the same person,” she says. “It’s almost like the onion is opening up a little bit more, so you get to see more layers. That core of a beautiful, sweet soul is still there, but we get to see her be a little bit more complex.” Rothwell’s performance in the show’s inaugural season earned her an outstanding supporting actress nomination at the 2022 Emmy Awards, but she was nervous to join the new production, as the show “had turned into a cult phenomenon”. Once she arrived on set, however, it was the other cast members who were nervous to meet her. “Carrie [Coon] came up to me at the cast dinner the first week and was like, ‘We’re all nervous to meet you’. I said, ‘Oh, me’? She was like, ‘Yeah, no, you’re the OG’!” Being part of The White Lotus has been “a wild ride”, adds Rothwell, shooting on location and experiencing her character’s surroundings in person. “Thailand feels like a character on the show.” For more than six months, the main cast and crew filmed and lived primarily on the island of Koh Samui. Many of them called it a once-in-a-lifetime experience, to be able to work in a travel destination for an extended period. Isaacs calls it humbling. “One of the great joys of working in other countries is getting an insight into and access to other people and being reminded that ours is not only not the only way to live, but possibly very much not the best way to live.” Parker Posey, who plays Timothy Ratliff’s wife, Victoria, says it was her first time in Asia, having “never been at work somewhere so exotic”, and that she was struck by many things, such as how “it felt very spiritual” in Thailand. “Every place around the world has its own energy, and I love that about Mike White’s auteurism. It’s bigger than the plot of the show or even entertainment, to be able to share that energy and also to give an experience.” She adds: “One of my favourite days on set is when Lisa was performing dressed in the traditional Thai dance costume. She looked like a painting had come to life.” Season 3 of The White Lotus is streaming on Max. The finale of the eight-episode series is on April 7.

‘Very clever’ Lisa, Patrick Schwarzenegger on White Lotus season 3 characters to root for

The HBO series is back, this time in Koh Samui, Thailand, and K-pop star Lisa of Blackpink was among the cast at its Asia launch in Bangkok