‘The White Lotus’ created a major buzz with Season 3, not just because of its scenic and spiritual Thailand setting or the dead body ruining a fun holiday but the show’s political commentary.
There was a viral conversation about voting for Donald Trump between three friends, and now it’s been revealed that the US President actually affected the plot. After Trump’s re-election, a non-binary trans child was dropped, which altered a major character’s arc.
How Donald Trump’s Re-election Affected ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Storyline
Carrie Coon, who plays Laurie on ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 and took it as a personal offence when her friend Kate, played by Leslie Bibb, admitted to voting for Trump, revealed there was more to her reaction. She was supposed to have a child championing LGBTQ rights.
The actress told Harper’s Bazaar, “You originally found out that her daughter was actually non-binary, maybe trans, and going by they/them.” However, in the final editing process, creator Mike White cut out that part. Laurie essentially remained divorced, with a fledgling career and a difficult daughter. But it was supposed to be more complicated.
Coon explained, “You see Laurie struggling to explain it to her friends, struggling to use they/them pronouns, struggling with the language, which was all interesting. It was a short scene, but for me, it did make the question [in episode 3] of whether Kate voted for Trump so much more provocative and personally offensive to Laurie, considering who her child is in the world.”
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The results of the 2024 election changed this entire plotline. Why? “Considering the way the Trump administration has weaponized the cultural war against transgender people even more since then, when the time came to cut the episode down, Mike felt that the scene was so small and the topic so big that it wasn’t the right way to engage in that conversation,” she said.
The Awkward Trump Reference Reflects Reality
We know ‘The White Lotus’ doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable discussions and that’s exactly what happened when childhood friends Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie took a trip to Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui in Thailand.
They were in the middle of a dinner when the matter of Kate’s religious activities surfaced. Jaclyn and Laurie were amused about her interest in church and asked if she felt weird adopting her husband’s ideals and living in Texas surrounded by Republicans who support Trump. Kate’s casual answer showed a stark reality of the changing America. While admitting, “They’re nice people. Really good families,” she hinted how politics isn’t an issue in the community.
Jaclyn and Laurie were quite horrified over Trump voters and asked, “Wait, are you…a Republican?” The situation was aggravated by Kate’s smile when questioned, “You didn’t vote for Trump though, did you?” The long pause that followed was filled with tension, and no amount of ‘let’s move on’ attitude could diffuse the alarming revelation. Of course, the friends discussed Kate’s politics in her absence.
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During the shoot, the team didn’t read too much into it, but the present time begs attention. Bibb commented on the scene in an interview with EW, “I feel like Mike had binoculars into the future because when we did it, it just didn’t feel [timely anymore]. I was like, ‘We already did that. That was in the past.’ I don’t even think Trump was running when we did it — it was in January or February of last year or something, so yeah, that was pretty wild. But he’s like a little soothsayer, that Mike White. It feels like we’ve hit a nerve. We’re in the zeitgeist, as they say. We’ve done something current, if you will.“
After the season’s premiere, the conversation feels more charged since Trump is once again the president of the United States. His views on the trans community, immigrants, diversity etc., are ever concerning, and the episode seems prescient.
