If The White Lotus season 3 finale is still living in your head rent-free, you’re not alone. Whether you absolutely loved the ending or it left you feeling furiously frustrated, the fact remains that Mike White’s latest peep into the lives of the vacationing mega-rich has kept us talking yet again. As searches around the poisonous pong pong fruit grow, so does the interest in the cast mates’ lives off-screen – and there are two actors who have found their friendship very much in the spotlight this week.
Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins played the cosmically connected – and tragically fated – couple Chelsea and Rick. On screen, they were two of the show’s standouts, with their character arcs regrettably entwined and their love story culminating in violent deaths. In interviews, Aimee and Walton have expressed that they became equally bonded in real life, with Walton telling People: “We both became enmeshed in each other, the way that Rick and Chelsea are.”
After The White Lotus season 3 finale, he also posted a tribute to his co-star and their characters, writing: “Rick + Chelsea. With the heaviest of hearts… To me, ours was a love story… It was only ever a love story, hindered by unresolved, childhood trauma. We all have them… but can we move past them.”
However, fans have taken to social media and Reddit threads to share their theories that Aimee and Walton might not be on the best terms at the moment. As highlighted by sleuthing fans, they no longer follow one another on Instagram (although Aimee still follows his glasses brand, Goggins Goggles) and Walton hasn’t tagged Aimee in any of his posts – despite tagging other co-stars. One person claimed on Reddit: “They unfollowed each other on Insta a couple weeks ago, Walton posts White Lotus stuff and tags everyone in the photos except Aimee Lou Wood, posts a whole tribute to White Lotus and still doesn’t tag her, posts tons of pictures of her on his story in a commemorative tribute to the show. What happened?”
They also noticed that Aimee’s comments no longer appear on any of his Instagram photos, although Walton’s comments are still visible on her page. Then, many pointed out that the carousel he did post of himself and Aimee on set was accompanied by Fleetwood Mac’s infamous break-up song, Silver Springs.
It doesn’t help, either, that Jason Isaacs – who played tortured businessman Tim Ratliff – discussed behind-the-scenes drama during filming. In a recent interview with Vulture, he said: “It was like a cross between summer camp and Lord of the Flies but in a gilded cage. It wasn’t a holiday. Some people got very close, there were friendships that were made and friendships that were lost.”
When pressed for details on what happened, he added: “They say in the show, ‘What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand’ but there’s an off-screen White Lotus as well, with fewer deaths but just as much drama.”
However, he declined to name names, stating: “Absolutely not. I became very close to some people and less close to others, but we still all had that experience together and there’s a certain level of discretion required.”
Although Aimee and Walton haven’t addressed the feud rumours publicly, Aimee did talk about the filming experience during an interview with Fashion’s Digest UK. Ahead of the show’s release, she told us: “We were filming in Thailand for seven months, and it was amazing and hard. There was a lot of homesickness and there was a lot of loss of self because you don’t have your anchor points… we were all staying in the hotels we were filming at so it really was a social experiment. It was like being on The Truman Show or Big Brother – it’s full on and it’s quite claustrophobic.
“There’s no separation between set and home, and you are just walking to your hotel room every night, so we were all a very dysfunctional, lovely family, and we were so close because we had to be – we had to kind of create home within each other.”