Season 3 of The White Lotus may be over, but the speculation about what went down off screen continues — largely in part to Jason Isaacs.
The hit HBO series, which first premiered in 2021, has followed the guests and employees at a fictional resort with numerous locations all over the world. The perk of having an anthology series has been the freedom to introduce a new star-studded cast each season.
During the third installment, The White Lotus took Us to Thailand, with the cast — including Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell, Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Lalisa Manobal, Michelle Monaghan, Lek Patravadi, Tayme Thapthimthong, Jon Gries and more — filming for seven months.
“It was like a cross between summer camp and Lord of the Flies but in a gilded cage,” Isaacs shared in an interview with Vulture in March 2025 before admitting he didn’t know whether the interactions affected the final content. “When it comes to talking about what happens when you pretend to be another person, I’m slightly at a loss. I’ve done it for decades — and not just the job, but talking about it — and I think almost everything I’ve ever said has been completely [false].”
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Isaacs noted that he maintained a close bond with his onscreen kids: Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sam Nivola and Sarah Catherine Hook.
“Does the fact that I spent a lot of time particularly with Patrick, Sarah Catherine, and Sam, and became very close to them, make any difference? I don’t know,” he said, notably not mentioning his onscreen wife, played by Parker Posey, who stayed at a different part of the resort. “I’ve played opposite people I barely knew and we looked like we absolutely loved each other. I’ve played with people I know very well and the relationships don’t work. I can talk about the dynamic but whether it bled into the work or not, I have no idea.”
Little did Isaacs know that his comments would make headlines. The White Lotus viewers started to speculate wildly about who he could be referring to, which led to speculation that season 3 love interests Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood were at odds.
Isaacs later walked back his claims but it was too late. Keep scrolling for every time he stirred the pot about White Lotus feuds:
Confirming Suspicions
“It was a theatre camp, but to some extent an open prison camp: you couldn’t avoid one another,” the actor told The Guardian in February 2025 while acknowledging “tensions and difficulties” while filming. “I don’t know if they spilled from on screen to off screen, or if it would have happened anyway.”
He continued: “There were alliances that formed and broke, romances that formed and broke, friendships that formed and broke. It’s a long period of time for people to be away from their family with an open bar and all the wildness being in Thailand allows.”
While witnessing the alleged tension, Isaacs recalled not being exempt, adding, “I can’t pretend I wasn’t involved in some offscreen drama. Dave has seen it before, twice, and so has [creator] Mike [White]. I can’t speak for them, but I imagine they think it feeds into the onscreen drama, and they might well be right. I think the heat contributed to these fissures appearing.”
He concluded: “I was in some ways used to it, but within a couple of weeks my wife [Emma Hewitt] went, ‘Some of these people are freaking mad.’ I said, ‘No, it’s just a bunch of actors away on location, love. You’ve forgotten what it’s like.’”
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Standing by His Commentary
During an interview with Sharp Magazine in February 2025, Isaacs hinted that filming The White Lotus wasn’t easy.
“There was a pressure cooker atmosphere, not just to the story we were telling, but to our own lives,” he said. “People are away from home. It’s hot, people are drinking wine at night. There’s an offscreen White Lotus as much as an onscreen White Lotus — just with slightly fewer body bags — to navigate and to add to the intensity of the whole experience, which is not something I’m used to. Normally, you go home.”
Signs of Trouble
Isaacs surprised Us with when he hinted at divides between the cast.
“Some people got very close, there were friendships that were made and friendships that were lost. All the things you would imagine with a group of people unanchored from their home lives on the other side of the world, in the intense pressure cooker of the working environment with eye-melting heat and insects and late nights,” he told Vulture in March 2025. “They say in the show, ‘What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand.’ But there’s an off screen White Lotus as well, with fewer deaths but just as much drama.”
The outlet offered Isaacs the chance to elaborate, which he laughed off, adding, “Absolutely not. I became very close to some people and less close to others, but we still all had that experience together and there’s a certain level of discretion required.”
Not Always on Good Terms
Isaacs continued to double down on his comments, telling The New York Times in March 2025 that the assumption that the cast was “one great big” family wasn’t true.
“We were sticking pigs every day. No, but it wasn’t entirely blissful,” he added. “Obviously people formed friendships, but we weren’t one great big homogenous happy family. It was a large group of people away from home, unanchored from their normal lives. I’m not going to break ranks and say who did what to whom, but it certainly wasn’t a holiday.”
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Walking Back the Gossip
After his insight went viral — and was used to fuel more specific cast feud rumors — Isaacs ultimately walked back his statements.
“I told the truth, while we were there, it’s a whole community. It was a city and it wasn’t just the actors. People need to remember it was the actors and the crew and the administrators and all these people were in a little pressure cooker together. And like anywhere you go for the summer, there’s friendships, there’s romances, there’s arguments, there’s cliques that form and break and reform and stuff like that,” he shared on SiriusXM’s TODAY Show Radio series The Happy Hour in April 2025. “I’m not stupid. I look at the internet. I only read every single word written about The White Lotus and about everybody in it.”
Isaacs specifically slammed the online theories from fans.
“All these amateur Sherlock Holmes out there, they’re extrapolating, ‘Well, one person posted this.’ And nobody has the slightest clue what they’re talking about. People who think they’re onto something, and then it gets magnified because of a thousand other people. Nobody has any clue I’m talking about,” he continued. “I’m talking about people you’ve never met before half the time, in different departments and the people in the hair and costume and the in the accounts department and stuff.”
He concluded: “First of all, it’s none of your business. I’m just saying it wasn’t a holiday. Partly I started saying that because people think we were on a seven-month holiday and believe me, it felt like work a lot of the time. It was insanely hot and there’s all the normal social tensions you get anywhere, but for all of you think you’ve cracked it by something you think someone has posted or is in a photo or not, you’re just so far from the truth, believe me.”
