It was really hot on the set of the third season of The White Lotus and the sultry Thai sun had nothing to do with it. Walton Goggins, who played Rick Hatchet, tired of life but obsessed with revenge, now remembers with a smile his tears and ... a snake bite.
The actor admitted that he burst into tears like a child when he found out that he was approved for the series.:
"I called my wife and just sobbed. It's like a golden ticket — an opportunity to go on a journey out of Mike White's head."
But it wasn't just happiness that made him cry. Filming in Thailand gave him a hard time. Especially the scene in the third episode where his character gets drunk and releases venomous snakes from their cages. Real ones, by the way.
Goggins has been afraid of these creatures since childhood, but for the sake of the role he climbed into the terrarium. Adrenaline was pumping, and at some point he forgot which snakes were dangerous and which were not. And, of course, someone bit him. It worked out, but the producers sent him to the hospital anyway, "just in case." The actor remembers it with a nervous laugh, but admits: yes, it was scary. And yes, he was crying again.
However, there were some bright moments. His co—star Aimee Lou Wood impressed Goggins with her singing — "just a phenomenal voice"-and helped him stay afloat while he carried the weight of Rick's worries.
Now Goggins exhaled: the finale is out, the series is being discussed, he is back on track. And now he shuns snakes, but he is not ashamed to admit that he can cry — a rare quality in modern men.
