Sam Nivola had quite the crazy ride filming The White Lotus season 3. The rising star barely had time to catch his breath before diving into a scene that left him “totally nervous” – an incestuous moment with Patrick Schwarzenegger.
The HBO hit’s known for pushing boundaries, but this one took stuff up a notch. With high-profile co-stars and a script full of shocking twists, Nivola had no choice but to go all in. And yes, the stress was real.
Sam Nivola on The White Lotus Season 3’s wildest scene yet
Sam Nivola had plenty to stress about while filming The White Lotus season 3, but nothing topped his now-infamous incest scene with Patrick Schwarzenegger.
Mike White’s HBO hit has never shied away from shocking moments – Murray Bartlett’s Season 1 meltdown and Jennifer Coolidge’s yacht disaster in Season 2 come to mind – but this one took things further. Last week’s episode saw Nivola’s Lochlan and Schwarzenegger’s Saxon, two hard-partying brothers, getting way too close during a drug-fueled game of spin the bottle.
What started as a peck quickly escalated, leaving their night a hazy mess of bad decisions.
Episode 6? That’s the brutal morning after. As flashes of the night resurface, Lochlan realizes he wasn’t just watching; he was involved. A monastery meditation session only deepens the horror. Choosing between Duke and UNC? Suddenly, that’s the least of his worries.
For Nivola, pulling off such an intense scene wasn’t easy. He admitted to Variety:
Yeah, I was totally nervous. I’m a very anxious person, so I’m always nervous, especially on a big job like that. Doing the s*x 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.
With The White Lotus constantly upping the ante, fans are in for more jaw-dropping moments before this chaotic vacation ends.
Bravo meets The White Lotus: How Southern Charm Shaped the Ratliff Family
Sam Nivola had a Bravo crash course before stepping into The White Lotus. The actor, who plays Lochlan Ratliff in Season 3, revealed that creator Mike White had some unusual homework – binge Southern Charm.
“Mike told us to go watch Southern Charm,” Nivola shared in an exclusive People interview, explaining that Jason Isaacs, who plays his dad, even modeled his accent after the reality show’s stars. The series, set in South Carolina, follows the drama-filled lives of Shep Rose, Austen Kroll, and their crew.
While Nivola studied up, his on-screen sister Sarah Catherine Hook got a free pass.
With The White Lotus known for its wild characters, a Bravo-inspired family makes perfect sense. And given how this season is unfolding, the Ratliffs might just be the most chaotic bunch yet.
Watch The White Lotus on Max & Prime Videos.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
