Rocking “The White Lotus”: Behind the Series’ Most Surprising Cameo Ever

The White Lotus delivered arguably the most surprising cameo in its three-season run this past Sunday night when Sam Rockwell appeared as Frank in episode 5, “Full-Moon Party.” Frank is an old friend of Walton Goggins’ Rick, who meets him in Bangkok to offer Rick a little help with his dark mission to settle an old score. In the process, Frank added a revelation that gave the season an unexpected jolt.

Before leaving the resort for Bangkok, Rick finally revealed his reason for taking his girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) to Thailand in the first place— he tracked his father’s killer to The White Lotus resort in Ko Samui. While Rick’s not entirely clear on the exact details of his father’s demise, he tells Chelsea he was a do-gooder who arrived in the country years ago in an effort to help people and, in so doing, ran afoul of Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn), the current owner of The White Lotus, Thailand. Rick’s dad went missing and was never found, and years later, while his mother was on her deathbed, she told Rick the name of his father’s killer. Like many of the other pampered, perturbed guests at the resort, Rick came to The White Lotus on his own spiritual retreat of sorts, but his notion of finding peace likely means killing Jim.

This is what brings Frank into the picture—he meets Rick at a nice hotel to hand over a gun, and the old friends repair to the bar for a drink and to catch up. Frank surprises Rick by ordering camomile tea rather than whiskey or bourbon, and that’s when Frank takes his old friend on a trip down memory lane to reveal just how he got sober and why.

Creator Mike White has written no small amount of incredible monologues in this series, giving performers like Jennifer Coolerdige, Murray Bartlett, Theo James, Aubrey Plaza, and more plenty of amazing moments when they get to unleash their inner demons (whether or not they’d describe them that way is another matter). Yet no performer has gotten to waltz into the series mid-season, entirely unexpected (hats off to all involved for keeping Rockwell’s appearance a secret), and rip off a monologue like this. Frank reveals to Rick that he came to Thailand for the same reason lots of middle-aged white men do—the young “Asian girls.” But Frank’s pursuit of pleasure quickly spiraled out of control, so much so that he started to see something about himself that shocked him; he wanted to be one of these girls. The monologue is too compelling and specific to recap it here; you simply have to watch it yourself.

Frank’s patient, unguarded admission to his old friend floors Rick, who can do little more than nod. In a series in which White has consistently spotlighted the way men objectify women and, in the case of Greg (Jon Gries), exploited them for their money, Frank’s confession was both shocking and oddly satisfying as if, finally, at least one man was coming clean.

In real life, Rockwell has been partnered with season 3 regular Leslie Bibb for almost 20 years. His cameo is directly related to their relationship, as Bibb revealed recently to CNN, and it was not something that had been planned for months in advance. “That came in last minute, like maybe two weeks before they were going to film it. So, it was very last minute,” she told CNN. “I said to them when they offered it to him, I was like, ‘If he doesn’t do it, don’t get mad at me. And Mike’s like, ‘I’m not going to get mad at you.’”

Bibb revealed to Andy Cohen on Bravo‘s Watch What Happens Live that Rockwell was filming in South Africa but was able to make the trip to Thailand to shoot his scene.

“I ran lines with him,” Bibb told Andy Cohen on the show. “I think that monologue is iconic, and I think it’s really what the whole season is about — what Mike’s really saying there.”

When Bibb read the scene, she thought it was the best thing she’d ever seen on television, as he told CBS Mornings. Bibb plays Kate, part of a trio of friends, along with Laurie (Carrie Coon), and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), who have come to The White Lotus on Jaclyn’s dime (she’s a famous actress) to do some catching up of their own. Thus far, five episodes in, they’ve effectively gossiped about each other, pairing off into duos to question the life choices and attitudes of whichever the lone third happens to be at the time.

“I felt like it was what Mike was really trying to talk about for the show,” Bibb told CBS Mornings about Rockwell’s monologue. Bibb thinks that if Kate, Laurie, and Jaclyn could find a way to do what Frank did, maybe they’d be able to open up to each other. “Hey, this is what’s happening in my life, I’m having problems in my marriage, I’m drinking too much, I’m doing this, whatever,’ they wouldn’t be gossiping about each other because they would immediately put the shield down, they would be vulnerable. And he comes in, and he’s like, here’s my truth, and he’s unapologetic.”

The first five episodes of season 3 of The White Lotus are streaming on Max. New episodes arrive on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET. It has already been renewed for a fourth season.

Featured image: Sam Rockwell in The White Lotus. Courtesy of HBO.