Warning: This post may contain spoilers from The White Lotus
Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola are opening up about their characters’ storyline in the latest episode of The White Lotus.
In episode five, which aired on March 16th, it was revealed that the two brothers, Saxon and Lochlan, had kissed while partying with Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) on Gary’s (Jon Gries) super yacht.
This week’s episode, “Denials,” more from that night was uncovered, and Patrick and Sam are dishing on their characters’ reactions and more.
Keep reading to find out more…
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
In the episode, it was revealed that while Lochlan and Chloe were having sex, Lochlan was also reaching over and jerking off his brother, who was lying in the bed next to them.
“We all just trusted each other, and that dynamic worked well. In the scene, Patrick and I are brothers, with this girl who we just met like the day before. It was very weird kissing Patrick because he’s a really good friend of mine,” Sam told Variety. “And, you know, I’m straight, he’s straight. It’s already weird. It would have been easier if that was the first time we were meeting. Weirdly, it was easier to do things with Charlotte because there were no stakes. It’s just this person I’ve just met. But Patrick was already like a brother to me. It felt sort of f–ked up.”
When asked if Lochlan was sexually attracted to his brother, Sam notes he think “it’s something else.”
“I think it comes from a sense of insecurity. He really looks up to both of his siblings, not from the point of view of a physical attraction. It’s more curiosity, and trying to figure out which kind of person he is going to become. He tries to connect with him in whatever way he can,” Sam said. “I think Lochlan is a people pleaser, who will try to get people to like him by any means necessary. Looking at Saxon while he’s jerking off is not a sexual thing — it’s more that he’s studying him: ‘Who is this guy? How can I get him to like me? How can I become more like him?’ What he learns over the first few episodes is that Saxon is the sex guy. His primary motive in life is to make money and get laid. So, the thing on the boat is Lochlan’s tragically misguided attempt at being like, ‘So, you’re the sex guy. Let’s do something in that realm and try to connect in some way.’ It’s obviously a big swing and a miss.”
As for Lochlan’s sexuality, Sam adds that “Lochlan has such a one-track mind. He wants love and attention — it could be from a guy, it could be from a girl. I don’t think he knows what he’s attracted to yet. If he finds out he’s attracted to men after this season, then it will probably become a problem, given his family being rich, conservative Southerners. But at this time, that’s not what’s going through his head.”
Patrick, on the other hand, says he gasped when he first read the scene.
“The first time I read it and got to that scene, I thought ‘Oh boy, we’ve got a wild [ride]. This is classic Mike White, classic White Lotus,” he told The Wrap. “It was going to be this hilarious moment throughout the script that was a big shift and changing point for Saxon, and for Saxon and Lochlan’s relationship … and the power shift between the two of them.”
“Mike wants it to be an open-ended conversation for the viewer to come up to their own ideas,” Patrick added about which of them initiated it. “Did Saxon want it? Did he not want it? Does he even remember it? Does he not? Was it the drugs? Was it not? Was is it these girls that pressured him into doing it? Was it not?”
Patrick also talks about how Saxon deals with the aftermath of remember what happened.
“[He] can’t believe what possibly happened, and just feels this inferior back-at-the-bottom-of-the-totem-pole part in his life,” he said. “I think that everything around him and himself feels like is shattering from who he thought he should be.”
