The White Lotus viewers aren’t the only ones who have questions about those strange incest vibes between Lochlan and Saxon — so does the cast.
HBO’s hit series, which debuted in 2021, focuses on the guests and employees at a fictional resort as they experience a slew of personal ups and downs while on vacation. The anthology series is also known for featuring a mysterious murder — or two — that is eventually revealed at the end of each season.
But season 3 managed to raise the bar by introducing a new mystery, bringing in new guests with some concerning story lines. To be more specific, Patrick Schwarzenegger‘s Saxon and Sam Nivola‘s Lochlan had Us clutching our pearls as soon as the eldest Ratliff sibling strolled into the bathroom naked — as his younger brother looked on.
Lochlan’s inexperience when it comes to sex initially pointed at him coming to terms with his sexuality. But since this is The White Lotus, the show had to kick it up a notch by continuing to hint at some charged tension between Lochlan and Saxon — who is very obsessed with his brother and sister Pipper’s (Sarah Catherine Hook) respective sex lives.
The White Lotus continues to defy expectations by stacking each season with a star-studded cast. The HBO series, which debuted in 2021, focuses on the guests and employees at a fictional resort as they experience a slew of personal ups and downs while on vacation. The anthology series is also known for a mysterious death […]
“I feel like Yana Grebenyuk Mike [White] was really a genius with that [and with] giving a lot of those moments [more],” Nivola told Screen Rant in March about the questionable moments between the Ratliff siblings. “There was a lot of Mike being like, ‘It would be funny if you just go over and pick her up and tickle her. Give her a big hug.’”
Nivola and Hook confirmed they “still got the ick” rewatching those scenes back. While reflecting on the story line, Nivola noted that Lochlan is easily influenced by both his sister and his brother because “he just wants attention.”
“Lochlan just wants someone in the world to love him. And he will do anything to make that happen,” he explained. “I’ve got total abandonment issues. I think that probably speaks to the family’s upbringing and how really wealthy families live in houses that are so big that you can’t even go hang out with your siblings because their rooms are a mile away.”
Nivola added: “We probably grew up with lots of babysitters. I think the environment isn’t very conducive for someone like Lochlan, [who] needs a lot of care and love in order to sort of keep trucking.”
While Lochlan and Pipper’s interactions appear more innocent, Schwarzenegger defended his character’s behavior, telling RadioTimes that same month that Saxon “wants what he thinks is best” for his brother.
“I think that one of the things that we worked on as a group, as a family, was to try to create that dynamic. The closeness, but the oddness, the weirdness [that] we thought was normal, the older brother to younger brother relationship,” he shared. “But I think that Saxon actually really does care about his brother. He cares about his sister. And I think that the relationship with his brother – although it’s very odd and weird, which is what Mike wanted — it’s still very loving at the same time.”
Keep scrolling for The White Lotus cast’s candid commentary about those incestuous undertones — and what it means for the rest of season 3:
Committing to the Bit
Schwarzenegger teased to RadioTimes in March that the “Easter egg moments” in the premiere would “set up for the rest of the” season.
“Saxon has this false perception and idea of what he thinks makes a man and who he thinks he is, and he’s trying to groom his younger brother to become that,” he hinted. “He doesn’t want anything for him to do with his sister, who he thinks is completely lost and is out of her mind that she’s even attempting to look at Buddhism and be in this foreign country — away from America and the life that we live.”
Leaning Into the Energy
“I think you’re spot on,” Schwarzenegger told Decider in March. “I think Saxon defines himself as the one that knows everything and that he’s correct and he’s right and that his siblings are lost and confused and he needs to groom his brother before it’s too late…. ‘Let’s focus on what we need to focus on, which is, you know, women, sex, money and power.’”
Hook, meanwhile, pointed out that Saxon’s “weird” obsession with his siblings’ sex lives is why Piper and Lochlan are “the way they are.”
“Piper is so uncomfortable in her sexuality because it’s probably just been talked about so much in front of her, scaring her away,” she explained. “It kind of does the opposite for certain children. Like, if it’s being talked about so casually in that way or so forcefully then maybe the opposite happens to those children. It’s very aggressive of Saxon to put it on his siblings and, like, so inappropriate.”
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Figuring Out His Identity
Nivola agreed with Decider that it was “weird” how often the Ratliff’s discuss sex, which has made it “exciting” for Lochlan.
“But I also think it’s not his primary focus,” Nivola added. “He just wants an ocean of love. Like, he just wants as much love as he can get from as many people as he can get it from. If going along with these sort of weird sex conversations is going to get him closer to that, he’ll do it.”
The Big Kiss
“I think at the end of the day, it was supposed to just be like they’re all really f—ed up, and, of course, kissing your brother is incredibly wrong and weird and gross,” Nivola told GQ in March 2025 after a kissing scene. “But I think as is the case with The White Lotus, it’s like these crazy actions and sort of heightened reality coming from really real emotions that are actually really relatable to your everyday guy.”
He added: “He just is desperate for his brother’s approval, and he’s out doing this partying drug thing with Saxon, which is a thing that Saxon keeps talking about, and all he talks about is sex. He’s like, ‘Sex is the main point of life. You need to get laid. That’s what you need.’ I’m like, ‘OK. Well, in this charged sexual environment, what can I do to make you notice me and get you to approve of me?’ And then, he does the wrong thing to make that happen.”
Nivola called the moment “really complicated” for his character going forward.
“What we wound up deciding is we’re going to let our instincts and Yana Grebenyuk Mike [White]’s direction take the reins and let the audience interpret this weird thing that we have going on, because that’s the way of movies and TV,” he detailed. “And also, the way Mike directs is very loose, which I love. He never comes into a day of work like, ‘This is exactly what I want, and if I don’t get that, I’m going to be mad.’”
Defending His Character
Sam Nivola, Sarah Catherine Hook and Patrick Schwarzenegger Fabio Lovino/HBO
“Lochlan is not a creep, necessarily. Of course, I have to say that. You have to love your character. So, f— it, I’ll defend him!” Nivola told Variety after his character engaged in a threesome with his brother. “I think he’s incredibly misguided, and his circumstances have put him in a bad spot, but I don’t think he’s evil or malicious in any way. It’s important to the story that he’s not some psychopath.”
