Jason Isaacs admits ‘friendships were lost’ filming The White Lotus season 3

Rishma Dosani

Published March 31, 2025 9:09pm Updated April 1, 2025 10:03am

Jason Isaacs in the White Lotus. He's wearing a bright yellow shirt and speaking on the phone. — Jason Isaacs insisted that filming the White Lotus ‘wasn’t a holiday’ (Picture: HBO)

Jason Isaacs has opened up about filming the White Lotus, comparing it to Lord of the Flies ‘in a gilded cage’.

The Harry Potter actor is currently starring as troubled Tim Ratliff in the third season of Mike White’s gripping HBO drama, leading a star-studded cast alongside Carrie Coon, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood.

While the gang seemed to be having a blast in Thailand, with pictures of their sunny exploits filling up our Instagram timelines, the 61-year-old teased that it was very different behind the scenes.

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s finale, the Lucius Malfoy icon said of the cast dynamic: ‘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,’ he told Vulture.

‘All the things you would imagine with a group of people unanchored from their home lives on the other side of the world, in the intense pressure cooker of the working environment with eye-melting heat and insects and late nights.

Will there be more of The White Lotus after season 3?

The end of The White Lotus season 3 is coming very soon, with the final episode airing on Sudnday night in the US and in the early hours of Monday in the UK on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

But what is the future of the series looking like afterwards?

Fortunately, we already know that The White Lotus will be returning for a season four, the details for which are currently scarce.

It was rumoured that it was going to be filmed in Norway – however, it’s since been reported that the country will no longer be the chosen filming location, according to Norwegian news website NRK.no.

Nonetheless, it seems that somewhere else in Europe is still on the cards.

‘I can’t really say where we’re going to land, but chances are somewhere in Europe,’ HBO programming executive Francesca Oris said, Deadline reported.

After Hawaii, Sicily and Thailand for the first three seasons, we can’t wait to find out what’s next!

‘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.’

When asked if he wanted to share any of the drama, he laughed: ‘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.’

Jason is currently starring as dysfunctional dad-of-three Tim, who takes his family – wife Victoria Ratliffe (Parker), sons Saxon (Patrick) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola), and daughter Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) to Thailand for a relaxing getaway.

However, his trip to the White Lotus gets off to a rocky start when he’s contacted by a journalist asking questions about his shady business endeavors.

The actor previously made headlines after his response to questions regarding one of the patriarch’s most shocking scenes from the beginning of the season – when he accidentally flashes his penis in front of his family.

The Ratliff family in The White Lotus season three — The hit series was filmed in Thailand (Picture: HBO)

Jason was met with intense speculation over his use of a prosthetic penis as he bared all, and slammed the scrutiny as a ‘double standard’.

‘I’ll tell you why, because the best actress this year is Mikey Madison at the Oscars and I don’t see anyone discussing her vulva, which is on television all the time and I’m not talking about Swedish cars,’ he told Gayle King on CBS Mornings.

‘I think it’s interesting that there’s a double standard for men, but when women are naked, Margaret Qualley in The Substance, no one would dream of talking to her about her genitalia or her nipples or any of those things.

‘So, it’s odd that there’s a double standard,’ he suggested.

After facing a huge backlash over the remarks, he admitted that he ‘said the wrong words’ in a chat with Variety, conceding that he was ‘tired’ after taking on ‘so many interviews’.

‘I said the wrong words in the wrong way. I used the phrase “double standard,” which I didn’t mean at all,’ he said.

The exploits and misadventures of various guests and employees at a tropical resort over the course of one week. Jason Isaacs as Timothy Ratliff Series 3, S3 HANDOUT. — Jason plays patriarch Tim Ratliff (Picture: HBO)

‘There is a [different] double standard — women have been monstrously exploited and men haven’t.’

The Harry Potter actor continued: ‘I absolutely should not have mentioned those two actresses, whom I respect enormously. Mikey Madison I’m a massive fan of.

‘My point wasn’t that men have had a harder time than women — that would be absurd. Women have had a monstrous time on camera forever, and I hope to God that is changing.’

Jason emphasised that women have been ‘exploited forever in cinema’ and have been ‘made to be gratuitously naked’ in scenes, while also being asked ‘totally inappropriate questions’.

He added that he found the scrutiny of whether or not he wore a prosthetic penis in his scene in The White Lotus as ‘a bit weird and slightly obessive’.

‘I thought I could have fun batting it off, but I batted it off very poorly,’ he added.

The White Lotus is available to stream on Now in the UK and HBO in the US.

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