In the midst of endless speculation about cast feuds, at least two White Lotus stars seem to be on good terms.
Jason Isaacs, who played wealthy North Carolina financier Timothy Ratliff on season 3 of the hit HBO series, posted two photos at an airport with his costar Walton Goggins, who portrayed the vengeful Rick Hatchett on the same season, on Friday.
“Guess who was on my plane?” Isaacs wrote in his Instagram caption.
The Harry Potter actor also jabbed at online conjecture that some of his castmates are experiencing interpersonal drama. “Hey, all you genius online sleuths — see any beef?!!” he wrote, adding the hashtag #RicksAlive!!!
Goggins shared the same photo on his Instagram story, writing, “Got to hug Timothy Ratliff yesterday” in his caption.
Rumors of tiffs between White Lotus cast members ramped up after Isaacs vaguely alluded to tense dynamics on set.
“Some people got very close. There were friendships that were made and friendships that were lost,” the actor told Vulture in March. “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. They say in the show, ‘What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand,’ but there’s an offscreen White Lotus as well, with fewer deaths but just as much drama.”
Isaacs again suggested that the cast experienced behind-the-scenes friction in an April episode of SiriusXM’s Today Show Radio. “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,” he said. “It was insanely hot, and there’s all the normal social tensions you get anywhere.”
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Some fans also noticed that Goggins and his onscreen lover, Aimee Lou Wood, who played Chelsea, unfollowed each other on Instagram shortly after the season finale, though the two actors now follow each other again.
In that same Today Show Radio interview, Isaacs said that scrutinizing the stars’ social media activity wouldn’t reveal anything substantial. “But for all of you [who] 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,” he said. “People who think they’re onto something, and then it gets magnified because of a thousand other people? Nobody has any clue.”
Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty
Sam Nivola, Charlotte Le Bon, producer David Bernad, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Parker Posey, creator Mike White, Walton Goggins, Lisa, Sarah Catherine Hook, Leslie Bibb, and Jason Isaacs at ‘The White Lotus’ season 3 premiere in Los Angeles on Feb. 10, 2025
Goggins recently shut down an interview during which he was asked about his relationship with Wood. “I’m not gonna have that conversation,” he said.
He also said “there is no conversation to be had about” Saturday Night Live‘s political parody of the show that prompted criticism from Wood, who called it “mean and unfunny.”
In his Instagram post, Isaacs also wryly tagged the official account for Duke University, where his White Lotus character went to college and which he frequently repped in a T-shirt featuring the school’s logo. After Ratliff imagined a murder-suicide while wearing a Duke shirt in a scene, the university released a statement condemning the episode.
“Duke University did not approve the use of its marks in The White Lotus,” a representative for the school told CNN after the episode aired. “Duke appreciates artistic expression and creative storytelling, but characters prominently wearing apparel bearing Duke’s federally registered trademarks creates confusion and mistakenly suggests an endorsement or affiliation where none exists.”
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Isaacs later told Rob Lowe on his Literally! With Rob Lowe podcast that he thought the White Lotus team did get the Duke logo approved. “I’m pretty sure they got it cleared because, as you know, you don’t ever go on television without getting all the logos cleared,” he said. “Someone at Duke decided that was really untoward and was not happy with the association. Other people online were pointing out that there are real-life alumni of Duke to be far more worried about than a fictional alumni.”
Isaacs also recalled a crew of White Lotus fans recently showing up to praise his performance and give him Duke paraphernalia at a convention in Virginia. “So I now have a selection of Duke T-shirts,” Isaacs said. “I didn’t wear one today. If I’d known, I’d have it on now, but I am intending to wear them whenever there’s a camera around.”
“So sorry, Duke,” he added. “There goes my honorary degree.”
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