Sam Nivola on the brothers of the brothers, is Lochlan Gay?

Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for season 3, episode 6 of “The White Lotus”, which now streams at Max.

In season 1 of “The White Lotus”, Murray Bartlett’s spiral hotel manager Armond is caught with his face between the Asscheeks of his much younger employee. And in season 2, Jennifer’s Coolidge’s Tanya de Beau Jack (Leo Woodall) of her assistant sees his alleged uncle, Quentin (Tom Hollander).

That turned out not to be an incest – Quentin hired Jack to present himself as his cousin as part of the Greg’s (Jon Gries) schedule to kill Tanya and inherit her money – but maker Mike White went even further for season 3 of his HBO holiday Dramedy.

In last week’s episode, Brothers Lochlan (Sam Nivola) and Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) joined Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), popping pills, shots and make Greg’s yacht for a joy ride. After their island of escapades, the foursome returns to the boat and the bottle starts to spin, without a bottle. Chelsea and Chloe Kiss. Chloe and Lochlan Kiss. Then … Lochlan and Saxon? First it is just a playful cock, but then Lochlan goes back for more and grabs the head of his older brother causing the girls to laugh.

If episode 5 is the Binge, episode 6 is the hangover, with Saxon and Lochlan merge what happened the night before. Everywhere there are flashes of Lochlan who have sex with Chloe, with Saxon lying next to them. He masturbates – no, that is the hand of Lochlan, who pulled his brother off. In the morning, Saxon insists that they are “both black,” but a blurry memory makes him sick in his belly.

Lochlan’s awareness does not happen until the end of the episode, when he meditates with his sister Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) in the Buddhist monastery. He has a night of introspection for him, and choosing between Duke and UNC is the least of his problems.

Nivola, the 21-year-old actor who plays Lochlan, spoke with Variety Prior to the episode 6 Shocker to detail what it was like to film that incest scene and to unpack the sexuality of his character.

Every season of “The White Lotus” has a shocking sexual act. At what time did you find out that it would be your character who is doing it this time?

When I got the role, I remember that I spoke with Patrick Schwarzenegger, and one of his audition scenes was the scene with Chloe [Charlotte Le Bon] Where she is: “Your brother broke you off last night. Do you not know anymore?” And he is like: “No, I made completely black.” So he told me that, and I thought, “Strange … I wonder what that is all about.” Then we both had to sign our contracts that we felt comfortable with nude scenes on the camera. Then we got the scripts about a week later and I read them all in one go, on the plane to Thailand.

What was your audition scene?

I had two. I had the scene in the hammock with Sarah Catherine Hook, and I also had one with Patrick – one of the million scenes about protein shakes, I can’t remember which.

Was this your first sex scene? Were you nervous?

Yes, I was completely nervous. I am a very anxious person, so I am always nervous, especially on such a big job. Doing the sex scene was nerve -racking and we were on a boat, and I get seasick, so that was damn stressful. The actual scene itself went smoothly. Mike White was a bit calming about it and I really trusted Patrick and Charlotte.

How do you build that trust with your co-stars? What kind of preparation is there?

Patrick I clearly knew very well, because we had already shot for a few weeks at that time, and I had been hanging around with him and Sarah Catherine and Jason every day [Isaacs] and Parker [Posey]. But Charlotte only came to Thailand two days earlier, and I think her second shoot day was filming scene. We didn’t really know her at all, but I think she knew that Mike wouldn’t choose what crawl to …

To play the crawl?

Yes exactly, to play the creep! We all just trusted each other, and that dynamic worked well. In the scene, Patrick and I are brothers, with this girl we just met like the day before. It was very strange kissing Patrick because he is a really good friend of mine. And, you know, I am straight, he is straight. It is already weird. It would have been easier if that was the first time We Were meeting. Strangely enough, it was easier to do things with Charlotte because there were no interests. It’s just this person I just met. But Patrick was already like a brother for me. It felt a bit ruined.

Well that’s good for the scene, I think. That it felt.

Yes! It’s good.

Have you used an intimacy coordinator?

Yes, we did that. All love for her – she is a very sweet, sweet person – but I just trust Mike so much. It is funny as talking to intimacy coordinators. They always use anatomically correct vocabulary that feels old and uncomfortable. I would say, “I don’t know if I can understand the shaft,” and then Mike would say, “just get rid of him.” And I would say: “Ok, That I understand. “I think intimacy coordinators are a great innovation. Both parents are actors, and they have told me stories that they have to do things like that without anyone who has your best interests, with directors who may be less supportive and friendly and caring as Mike White.

Earlier in the season there are hints on a strange dynamic between the brothers. In the first episode, Lochlan looks out Saxon and he stares naked at him for a little too long. In episode 5, when they kiss playfully, Lochlan goes back for more. Is Lochlan sexually attracted to his brother, or is it something else?

I think it’s something else. I think it comes from a feeling of uncertainty. He really looks up at both brothers and sisters, not from the point of view of a physical attraction. It is more curiosity and try to find out what kind of person he is going to be. He tries to make contact with him in any way. I think Lochlan is a folk sled, who will try to like people in every possible way. Looking at Saxon while he jerked off is not a sexual thing – it is more that he studies him: “Who is this man? How can I give him to like me? How can I become more on him?” What he teaches the first few episodes is that Saxon is the sex guy. His primary motive in life is to make money and be laid. So the thing on the boat is Lochlan’s tragically misguided attempt to be like: “So you are the sexune. Let’s do something in that rich and try to make contact in one way or another.” It is clearly a big swing and a miss.

Do you think Lochlan questions his sexuality or even his gender? It is interesting that you say that Lochlan Saxon ‘studied’, almost as if his brother is a foreign entity.

I think the way Mike looks at the world is not by a gender lens. He can correct me if I am wrong, but he writes both men and women, both gay and straight, so accurately and honestly. The point that he always makes is that people are all the same – sweet, but still rotten in the core. I think the brother-sister thing is more about their manners of life than about gender and sexuality. With Piper it is about being more spiritual and sober. Saxon is about money and women. It can be money and men, and I don’t think it would be so much difference. Lochlan has such a one-track spirit. He wants love and attention – it can be a man, it can be a girl. I don’t think he knows where he is attracted to. If he finds out that he is attracted to men after this season, it will probably be a problem, given that his family is rich, conservative southern people. But at the moment that is not what is going through his head.

During the episode Saxon puts together the pieces from the night before. How much does Lochlan remember? He seems to remember in the monastery.

It is interesting, Mike always lets you photograph a number of different versions, different ways to play the subtext. The scene on the boat that I am: “I can’t remember last night” – We shot versions of which I seemed like I might remember and I am nonsense, maybe I am more a crawl than initially described. And then we shot the other way. Those who used Mike that I am happy with are those where Lochlan does not remember, until that moment in the temple. I like that he made that choice, because Lochlan is not a creep at the end of the day, necessarily. Of course I have to say that. You have to love your character. So, fuck it, I’ll defend him! I think he is incredibly misled, and his circumstances have brought him into a bad place, but I don’t think he is bad or malignant in any way. It is important for the story that he is not a psychopath.

In the previous episode he says to Saxon: “One day I will take you down.” What does he mean by that?

It seems that there is more subtext for that, but I think that’s just about the nominal value. He tries to talk like a brother, such as: “Guy, I’m going to get you damn one day.” He tries to talk like Saxon, and I don’t think he necessarily means that he will bring him down because of course he will not do that.

With both brothers now aware that they were intimate the night before, how could that influence the rest of the holiday?

In the second half of episode 6 you can see that Saxon Lochlan completely ignores, because he feels uncomfortable about everything that happened. How could he not feel that way? He finds it painful to even look at Lochlan. I think Lochlan is sorry about everything that happened, and he is also from: “Fuck, everything I do is to try my brother to like me. And now I have removed him further from me.” Lochlan is the orchestrator of his own downfall. The last two episodes are that he is struggling with that.

And which lecture he goes to.

And which college does he go to! But at the moment that is quite low on the list of priorities for him.

Before the episode was broadcast, did you tell your family or friends about what happens to Lochlan? Or are they shocked?

I told my parents, but I didn’t tell my sister. She is bad at keeping secrets. I don’t have told anyone because I am among many NDAs. But I told my girlfriend because she was there while we photographed it. That’s about it. I’m really afraid that I will be charged by HBO.

This interview has been edited and condensed.