White Lotus: Jon Gries on what Greg’s ‘cuckold’ fantasy and ‘contract basis’ relationships say about his past
"It helped a lot," says the star of Greg's latest storyline; it was previously hinted he had a history with season two's Quentin
The White Lotus star Jon Gries has reflected on his character Greg’s sexual practices in a new interview.
The season three finale, which aired on Sunday (6 April), saw Greg’s cuckold fantasy (as earlier described by his partner Chloe, involving seeing her with another man) apparently come to fruition.
This follows a season two storyline in which Quentin (Tom Hollander) tells Greg’s then-partner Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) that he once deeply loved a heterosexual cowboy from Wyoming during his youth – strongly hinted to be Greg, to whom Quentin is seemingly now indebted.
“Everything was on a contract basis”
Asked by Variety how Greg’s cuckold fantasy informs the character, the 67-year-old said: “It helped a lot. As they say, it’s not so much what your character says, it’s what other people say about your character that informs who that person is. I recognised that Greg has no interest in having friendships. Everything was on a contract basis, as it was easier to have control of those relationships, as opposed to being beholden out of love or loyalty, or any of those things. He’s living a detached life.”
Jon furthermore explained of how he developed the character, who is the only one to appear in all three seasons: “I write stories about Greg’s past, about how he meets Chloe, about how he views people in general. He’s a bit of a misanthrope. He doesn’t want to engage with anybody. He’s a bit of a prisoner in an interesting way, because he doesn’t trust anybody.
“Chloe is a perfect sidekick because she’s savvy, and she can play a hard game. And she’s beautiful and sexy, so that fulfils a very visceral desire.”