Patrick Schwarzenegger reflects on White Lotus incest storyline ‘closure’
"The scene with me and Sam in the finale is kind of a period at the end of a sentence"
By Gary Grimes
With The White Lotus‘s third season finally drawing to a close yesterdsay, so too did weeks of discourse about one of the show’s most controversial storylines to date.
The incest plot between brothers Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola) has been the most headline-grabbing plot point of this season.
It all came to a head in a shocking scene in which Lochlan masturbates his older brother whilst having sex with another female character, leaving some viewers disgusted and others eager to see where the storyline would go next.
“Saxon can’t confront what happened between them”
Speaking in a new interview with Variety, the star said: “The power dynamics between [the] brothers completely changed after episode six. Lochlan is really trying to say he’s caught in the middle of everyone in the family, constantly trying to please them. In this case, quite literally. Mike White does such an amazing job writing, and the theme of the season is that you enter the White Lotus as one person and you leave as another.
“The scene with me and Sam in the finale is kind of a period at the end of a sentence. There’s some kind of closure, even though Saxon can’t confront what happened between them. He can’t look his brother in the eye. He begs to have them live in denial forever. It’s a sweet but odd moment — Lochlan telling his brother that he knows he just wants to get off.”
It has been suggested by some on social media that the outrage over the storyline is outsized compared to similar storylines on Game of Thrones, noting that the difference is that in this instance the sexual activity to taking place between two male siblings.
In the same interview, Schwarzenegger dismissed this comparison. “Well, we have to remember Game of Thrones was a totally different world,” he began.
“It’s a different setting, a period fantasy. This is hitting way harder, because it’s current. But I mean sure, if it’s because it’s two brothers or guy-on-guy, I think it’s just the current state of what the show is.”
“White Lotus has consumed my life the past 16 months”
The actor recently took to his social media to lament the end of his White Lotus journey. In the caption of an emotional video message he shared with fans, he wrote: “White Lotus has consumed my life the past 16 months. Prepping, filming , press etc etc. It was a Beautiful chapter of my life. One that I’ll never forget.
“One that I made everlasting relationships. A chapter That I learned immensely from. That I grew as an actor and a Human. Just a moment in life that I’m forever grateful for.”