Oops, they did it again.
Sunday’s episode of “The White Lotus” escalated the incest storyline between brothers Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan Ratliff (Sam Nivola).
It was revealed through flashbacks the next morning that after the siblings kissed, Lochlan gave Saxon a hand job while he was hooking up with Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) in bed.
In a new interview with the Wrap, 21-year-old Nivola said he initially didn’t believe the latest plot twist with the Ratliff brothers.
“I thought that there was a typo that screwed up the names — I was like ‘me and him?’” the actor said.
“I was blown away — I was shocked,” Nivola continued, calling creator Mike White “a total genius” and “a brilliant writer.”
He added, “Nothing is for shock value — it’s all to to serve the story and help flesh out these characters that are so complex. I ran with it. It made sense.”
Schwarzenegger, 31, told the Wrap he “gasped” upon learning about the incest scene.
“The first time I read it and got to that scene, I thought, ‘Oh boy, we’ve got a wild [ride]. This is classic Mike White, classic ‘White Lotus,’” Schwarzenegger said. “It was going to be this hilarious moment throughout the script that was a big shift and changing point for Saxon, and for Saxon and Lochlan’s relationship … and the power shift between the two of them.”
Nivola explained that the co-stars acted out the scene in bed “naturally,” adding, “We did it a bunch of different ways, and we just sort of let our instincts drive the scene, as we do in any scene.”
Both actors wouldn’t say which brother initiated the intimate moment.
“Mike wants it to be an open-ended conversation for the viewer to come up to their own ideas,” said Schwarzenegger.
Nivola added, “For most intents and purposes, it doesn’t matter who initiated it — it happened and it’s crazy.”
Speaking to Variety, Nivola confirmed they used an intimacy coordinator in the Episode 6 scene.
“All love to her — she’s a really sweet, lovely person — but I just trust Mike so much,” he said. “It’s funny the way intimacy coordinators talk. They’re always using anatomically correct vocabulary that feels stale and awkward. I’d be like, ‘I don’t know if I can grasp the shaft,’ and then Mike would be like, “Just jerk him off.’ And I’d be like, ‘OK, that I understand.’”
Nivola further theorized that Lochlan’s attraction to his brother “comes from a sense of insecurity.”
“I think Lochlan is a people pleaser, who will try to get people to like him by any means necessary,” he explained. “Looking at Saxon while he’s jerking off is not a sexual thing — it’s more that he’s studying him: ‘Who is this guy? How can I get him to like me? How can I become more like him?’”
The son of actors Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola also proudly declared of Lochlan: “You have to love your character. So, f–k it, I’ll defend him!”
“I think he’s incredibly misguided, and his circumstances have put him in a bad spot, but I don’t think he’s evil or malicious in any way,” Nivola shared. “It’s important to the story that he’s not some psychopath.”
Before the episodes dropped the actor admitted he did break his NDA. “I told my parents, but I haven’t told my sister. She’s bad at keeping secrets,” he told the outlet, noting he signed “a lot of NDAs” while working on the show. “I’m really scared about getting sued by HBO.”
“The White Lotus” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and Max.
