Patrick Schwarzenegger has revealed he was blissfully naive about what his role in the third series of The White Lotus would entail.
Mike White’s acclaimed show dropped its third season last week, doubling down on the shock sex scenes it has become known for since its 2021 debut.
This time around, Patrick, the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, has been anointed the breakout star, thanks in part to his character Saxon Ratliff’s jaw-dropping full frontal nude scene in the first episode.
And now the rising star has revealed how he felt when the show’s creator, writer and director White told him the role meant he would have to go naked.
‘I didn’t know to what extent [there would be nakedness],’ Patrick explained to The Sunday Times Style Magazine. ‘You do the auditions but you don’t see the full script so you don’t have all the details, then they ask you, “Are you comfortable with nudity?” when you sign on.’
And the actor fully backed White’s vision for the character, pointing out: ‘This character, from start to finish, is ridiculous and the type of person who absolutely would walk around his room naked without a care in the world.’
Patrick Schwarzenegger has revealed he was blissfully naive about what his role in the third series of The White Lotus would entail
The show has dropped its third season, doubling down on the shock sex scenes it has become known for. Patrick has been anointed the breakout star, thanks in part to his nude scene
‘He’s the guy who, whenever he sees a girl at the pool, he’s going to flirt with them whether it’s a mom or a 22-year-old.’
The provocative scenes did little to dampen Patrick’s enthusiasm for the role, as he revealed he had manifested the part.
When the audition came up in 2023 the actor, whose role in Ryan Murphy’s Scream Queens is his most notable up until now, couldn’t wait, self-taping his try-out the same day.
‘I thought, there’s no way I’m going to get this, everybody is up for this,’ he insisted. ‘I’ve been a massive fan of the show since day one. It was my dream goal, I think I manifested it.’
And landing the role came with its sacrifices. The young star even delayed his wedding to long-time girlfriend Abby Champion after landing the part a week after he proposed.
The seven month shoot in Thailand has meant the couple pushed back their nuptials to later this year.
But it seems the sacrifices were worth it as The White Lotus season three premiered to record-breaking ratings.
The series featuring a star-studded cast that also includes Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, and Michelle Monaghan debuted in the US last Sunday night drawing in 2.4 million cross-platform viewers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
And now the rising star has revealed how he felt when the show’s creatorm writer and director Mike White told him the role meant he would have to go naked
Landing the role came with its sacrifices. The young star even delayed his wedding to long-time girlfriend Abby Champion after landing the role a week after he proposed
That number is a 57 percent increase on the season two premiere of 1.5 million viewers which included the on-air premiere replays on HBO and streaming on MAX.
The US President’s Day holiday gave many fans the day off and that helped the premiere grow to 4.6 million viewers in the first 36 hours it was available.
That number was double the number of people looking at season two’s first episode.
HBO claimed viewing more than tripled in Latin America and Europe, but did not provide the data to the outlet backing its assertion.
The Mike White created satire is set in Thailand this season and, spoiler alert, an unidentified body turned up in the first episode.
Multiple fan forums have already started to speculate on who the victim is.
Fans did have one big complaint about the new season – the theme song.
‘Bring the old theme song back,’ was a popular plea on the show’s Instagram page.
‘What happened with the opening music?! I hate the new version without the vocals,’ stated one fan.
‘The one thing we can all agree is that you don’t change your iconic theme song!’ advised another.
