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‘White Lotus’ Casting Director Says Actors Backed Out of Season 3 Over Incest Scenes
Cristóbal Tapia de Veer is no longer in harmony with The White Lotus.
The composer, who has worked on the HBO series for three seasons, revealed that after a dispute about the music on the show with creator Mike White, he won’t be checking in for the show’s fourth season.
“I announced to the team a few months ago that I was not coming back, that I was leaving,” Cristóbal said during an interview with the New York Times published April 2. “I didn’t tell Mike for various reasons; I wanted to tell him just at the end for the shock and whatever. Except I told the whole editorial team and music editor and producer and all that, but I didn’t think that they were going to tell him. At some point he heard about that.”
According to Cristóbal, his and Mike’s beef began with the removal of the signature “ooh-loo-loo-loo” and “ooh-loo-loo-loos” from the opening credits score for this season which stars Patrick Schwarzenegger, Walton Goggins, Parker Posey and more. The move changed the theme song completely and left some fans of the series disappointed.
“I texted the producer and I told him that it would be great to, at some point, give them the longer version with the ooh-loo-loo-loos, because people will explode if they realize that it was going there anyway,” Cristóbal said. “He thought it was a good idea. But then Mike cut that—he wasn’t happy about that.”
“I mean, at that point, we already had our last fight forever, I think,” he continued. “So, he was just saying no to anything.”
E! News has reached out to Mike White and HBO for comment but has not heard back.
Fabio Lovino/HBO
In the end, Cristóbal went along with Mike’s wishes, and didn’t let his original score disappear completely as he uploaded it to YouTube. The Emmy-winning musician offered his final thoughts about working with Mike, comparing his experience working with him to being in a rock band.
“I was like, OK, this is like a rock band I’ve been in before,” he said. “Where the guitar player doesn’t understand the singer at all.”
The season finale of the most controversial installment of the franchise is set to air April 6 with an estimated runtime of 90 minutes. As for season four, which was announced in January, fans are going to have to wait to find out more details about the latest group of guests who will be checking into the luxury resort.
Keep reading for more about the real-life actors from The White Lotus…
HBO; Christopher Polk/Shutterstock
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.
HBO; Entertainment Pictures/Entertainment Pictures/ZUMAPRESS.com
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.)
HBO; Moviestore/Shutterstock
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.
HBO; Prime Video
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.
HBO; Warner Bros. Pictures
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.
HBO; Netflix
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 The Perfect Couple.
Nivola has also acted in White Noise with Adam Driver, Maestro with Bradley Cooper and With/In with Anne Hathaway.
HBO
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.
HBO; Marvel/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
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.
HBO; 20th Century Fox/Regency/Kobal/Shutterstock
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.
HBO; Kobal/Shutterstock
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.
HBO; Columbia/The Weinstein Company/Kobal/Shutterstock
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.
HBO; Netflix
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.
HBO; One 31
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.
HBO; C More Entertainment
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.
HBO; A24
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.
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