Sam Nivola On Lochlan’s Near Death

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the Season 3 finale of HBO’s The White Lotus, created by Mike White.

Sam Nivola just went down in The White Lotus history for playing the first murder victim that lived to tell their story. His character Lochlan Ratliff did not even realize he got this close to being (accidentally) killed by his own father.

If you thought that Lochlan finally facing his brother Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) over that drug-infused Episode 6 brother-on-brother sex act would be his biggest moment in the finale, you were not even close. Yes, Saxon finally confronted Lochlan over the events of that night on the yacht and Lochlan’s explanation — while pretty weird — seemed to squash the incest speculation that had surrounded Season 3 from the start, reaching fever pitch after Episode 6.

“In a family of narcissists”… “I am a pleaser and want to be give people what they want,” Lochlan told Saxon, explaining that since all his brother cares about is “getting off,” he felt Saxon was “left out” during the sex romp so he decided to help his brother out. OK…

There was also Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) rejecting her brother Lochlan’s offer to spend a year with her at Thailand’s Buddhist center. But the real drama surrounding the Ratliff family came when dad Timothy (Jason Isaacs), facing financial ruin, concocted a plan to poison everyone but Lochlan since the youngest sibling seems to be the only in the family one who thinks he can live without money.

Timothy changed his mind at the last minute but there were some seeds of the poisonous “suicide tree” fruit left in the blender, and they got into Lochlan’s protein shake the next morning. He threw up but then seemingly died, with his family flashing before his eyes and him having visions of drowning away from the surface with four monk-like figures looking at him from above.

His father, who somehow slept through the blender noise despite finally running out of Lorazepam the night before, was stricken by grief when he found his son lying by the pool, motionless. Only after Rick (Walton Goggins) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) got shot to death did Lochlan come back to life, waking up in his father’s arms.

In an interview with Deadline after the Season 3 finale, Nivola spoke about Lochlan’s near death experience and what may have saved him. He discussed filming the “death” scene with Issacs as well as the underwater sequence, revealing another version of it that didn’t make the final cut, which would’ve thrown viewers off even more as it had Lochlan in one of The White Lotus‘ signature body bags.

Nivola shared the extended version of another finale scene that was trimmed and addressed Lochlan’s heart-to-heart with Saxon. He dissected Lochlan’s justification for his actions, explained whether Lochlan is sexually attracted to his brother and addressed again his sexuality. Nivola also revealed how the viral scene of Saxon and Lochlan wearing each other’s swim trunks after the yacht sex scene came about.

He also spoke about why Lochlan wanted to stay in Thailand with Piper, what may be next for the Ratliffs would Lochlan choose UNC over Duke and whether the trip and near death experience has changed him. Nivola also addressed whether his and Schwarzenegger similar upbringing as children of well known actors factored into the duo’s close personal relationship.

DEADLINE: When did you find out that Lochlan would have a near death experience in the finale?

NIVOLA: When I read the script right at the beginning. We got sent all the scripts just a few days before we flew out to Thailand, so I knew it all coming in, which, thank god. It’s so annoying sometimes with these big shows, they’re so secretive that they don’t let the actors read the script, which really frustrates me, because it’s like what, you think the actors are gonna leak their own material? We need to know what the f*ck is going on in the show if we’re gonna do a good job.

DEADLINE: When you read that scene with Lochlan by the pool, did you have inkling that he would survive? It looked like a real death..,

NIVOLA: Yeah, I totally thought he was gonna die before I got to the end of the episode, and then I was happy he didn’t. I think it’s a good little red herring because I think it would have been too sad if he died, and it’s a great distraction from the people who actually die because then you don’t expect that even more. It’s great storytelling from Mike, as always.

DEADLINE: Was this your first death scene?

NIVOLA: Yes, it was.

DEADLINE: Did knowing that Lochlan is headed to that near death experience impact how you played him throughout the season?

NIVOLA: I didn’t actually play him differently. I think Walton and Aimee Lou’s storyline, for example, feels very much like there’s a Chekhov’s Gun involved, and some sh*t is gonna hit the fan and someone’s gonna die, and I think they did a great job of playing that suspense the whole time. I think what made it easier for me — but also just made sense — is that I don’t feel like it’s really expected. It’s not like Lochlan is living in some sort of very dangerous situation. And so, I played him just like how I would play him normally because it’s not like he knows he’s gonna potentially die.

DEADLINE: To be clear, was the vomiting that allowed Lochlan to survive the poisoning?

NIVOLA: I think so, yeah, I think he got it all out. And also, I think maybe it wouldn’t have killed him anyway, because obviously Timothy doesn’t know about the dosage, how much of these seeds you need to actually kill someone. He’s got a couple of fruits, but then I only got the residue of it in the blender.

DEADLINE: How was it filming the scene where Jason Isaacs is holding Lochlan’s lifeless body? Was it emotional for you?

NIVOLA: It was because I love him so much, and it was sad seeing him sad. He got himself really worked up, and he was saying that he was thinking of his own kids dying, and that made me really sad, because I had also just met his kids who were so sweet. Yeah, it’s emotional, especially because this show makes you so close to your character because you’re living in the same place that your character lives and you’re hanging out with your family members.

DEADLINE: What about the underwater “death” scene?

NIVOLA: We filmed that fully underwater. It was really scary, It was kind of amazing. I was down there, probably 10 feet underwater, with scuba divers all around me giving me their oxygen masks. I couldn’t see, obviously, because I didn’t have goggles on. We shot it all day, and we did a couple versions of it where I was in a body bag and crawling out of a body bag in my dream.

And that was so scary, because I had to be zipped in a body bag with no air, and then unzip myself. Of course, it was all safe. They wouldn’t have put me in a in a unsafe situation but it was really scary in a fun way.

DEADLINE: Mike White is known for filming longer episodes before trimming them down. Was there another scene that didn’t make the final cut?

NIVOLA: Part of the scene that I have with Timothy where he says, You think you could live with no money? and I say, Yes, I think I could. The rest of that scene got cut out. He says, What are you reading? And I’m like, I’m reading this book about tsunamis, and f*cking 300,000 people died, or however many it was. How do you find any meaning in life when it can all just change like that on a time, which I think was a cool way of describing the turmoil that he’s going through. And then Timothy says, What if money doesn’t matter or something? And I’m like, Okay, I don’t see how that’s related to what I just said and he is just totally thinking about his own thing. That was a funny little bit.

DEADLINE: We have to discuss Lochlan’s conversation with Saxon in the finale. He seems to be trying to put this all that incest talk to rest. It was an extreme people’s pleaser situation where Lochlan didn’t have sexual intentions toward Saxon; he just wanted to be nice to his brother because he felt he was left out. Is that right?

NIVOLA: Yeah, I think that’s exactly it. He’s a people pleaser. His brother’s whole thing is, I’m the sex guy, I’m really into sex, one of my passions in life is sex and money, basically, and working out. The reason Lochlan wants to get laid is because he wants to do what his brother wants him to do, he just wants approval from him because he looks up to his brother, and so then the whole sex act is just a really f*cked up, extreme way of trying to make him happy and proud.

DEADLINE: Did we find out anything more about Lochlan’s sexuality or was that still left open?

NIVOLA: I don’t think he’s sexually attracted to his brother. To me, that wasn’t something I was thinking about, like he’s gay or straight or whatever he is. I don’t think it really matters for his purposes, or for my purposes as an actor because I think his whole struggle isn’t about sex, and it’s not about love, and it’s not about sexuality. It’s more about just people and his relationship to people, whether they’d be male or female or anything in between.

DEADLINE: Lochlan and Saxon’s swapped swim trunks. Was it something you did for fun and everybody got obsessed over it, or was it an accident?

NIVOLA: No, It was Mike’s idea. He thought it would be really funny. We were about to start shooting the first scene that took place the next day. He was like, wait, you can swap, it would be really funny. And we did it.

I’m happy people are noticing it. We didn’t think anyone was going to notice, but I think it’s pretty hilarious because they also don’t fit: my shorts are way too tight on him, and his are way too baggy on me, and it looks ridiculous.

DEADLINE: What lies ahead for for The Ratliffs? It seems like Lochlan is the most adjusted to the new reality because he doesn’t care about money that much. What do you see happening? Will Lochlan go to UNC over Duke now because it’s a public university and significantly cheaper in-state. Is college even an option?

NIVOLA: I don’t know. It’s such an earth-sharing thing that’s happening to them, I don’t know what’s going to happen, how their way of life is going to change. I think of all of them, Lochlan is probably best prepared to deal with the no money, not for good reasons, but because he is already so lost that he can’t really get much more lost than he already is.

So I think he’ll be all right. I don’t even know if he’ll go to college, I don’t even know if that’s the right thing. I don’t know what he needs, and he definitely doesn’t know what he needs.

DEADLINE: There was a moment where Lochlan didn’t even want to go back to America; he was prepared to stay in Thailand a whole year with Piper. What was that about?

NIVOLA: That’s just about wanting to connect with his sister. It’s very similar to the other thing, actually. He just wants the approval and love and attention and respect of his siblings who he really looks up to and who he’s really close to, and I think he just wants Piper to like him. And so he’s like, I’ll do the thing you’re doing. And that’s why, again, it’s really confusing to him when she’s like, I don’t want you to come. Like, why, I thought that would be a fun thing for us to do together.

DEADLINE: When he work up, Lochlan told his dad, ‘I saw God’. Will this change him you think?

NIVOLA: No, I don’t think it will. I think he wants to have a spiritual experience. For example, I think God and religion are a really beautiful way that many people find identity and find a way to define themselves and figure out what kind of a person they are andI think he wants that for sure. And he’s been watching Piper go through that spiritual journey as well. I think he’s just grasping at straws. I don’t think he really does change very much. He’s still in the really sh*tty circumstance that he’s in, and he still has all these insecurities.

DEADLINE: You’d mentioned in an interview that Lochlan came to Thailand completely lost and is leaving completely lost. So he’s taking nothing away from this experience?

NIVOLA: No, I don’t think so. I think he definitely takes away the fact that you shouldn’t sleep with your brother, and that that’s a bad thing. I think he definitely knows that now. But I think part of what’s so good about Mike’s writing is that it would be too simple if it were The White Lotus is a hotel that changes you: you come in one person, you leave another person. That’s just not really how life works.

Some people change when they go through intense, traumatic experiences, some people never change, and that’s just how life goes. And that’s not to say that he won’t ever change. He is 18-years-old, he’s got a long life to live, and most people haven’t figured out who they are at 18. I’m 21, I still don’t know who I am. I think he will figure it out. But I don’t think this week at a hotel, even though all that crazy stuff happened, will change him very much.

DEADLINE: You have spoken about your off-screen bond with Patrick Schwarzenegger. Could it be your similar upbringing that brought you closer together? You both have been in the spotlight since you were little with famous parents?

NIVOLA: It’s very different. His dad is Arnold Schwarzenegger, and my parents are amazingly talented, brilliant people [actors Emily Mortimer & Alessandro Nivola], but they’re a lot less in the public eye. He grew up with security, and his dad was the governor of the state of California. It was definitely different in a lot of ways but also similar. And I think we did bond on that but also on so many other things. I feel just as close with Sarah Catherine as I do to him because I think we just also mainly have the shared lived experience of being young actors and going around and also the shared experience of being in Thailand all together, which was such a specific, strange, beautiful thing that only we really understand, and everyone else in this cast.

DEADLINE: The White Lotus has been a big series for you: first on-screen kiss, first sex scene, first death.

NIVOLA: Yeah, a lot of firsts. First time to Thailand. I’m sad it’s coming to an end, and I love all those people I worked with. I’ve loved to have them all as friends, and I’m so grateful that everyone is liking the show.