'White Lotus' Rick finally stares down his dad's killer: Scott Glenn explains

USA Today

31-03-2025

Spoiler alert: This story includes details from the March 30 episode of HBO's"The White Lotus."
The long-anticipated encounter between Rick Hatchett (Walton Goggins) and shadowy Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn) finally came to a head on "The White Lotus."
Rick has spent much of his adult life — and the first six Season 3 episodes of the HBO comedy ― revenge fantasizing over a Thailand confrontation with the super-rich American landowner Jim. According to Rick's mom, who spoke on her deathbed, Jim killed Rick's do-gooding dad, whose body was never found.
The promised confrontation with his father's suspected killer in Sunday's episode (now streaming on Max) fell short of "Princess Bride"-level paternal revenge. Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) had earlier cited the classic movie when asking her boyfriend Rick: "Is this like a, 'You killed my father, prepare to die' thing?'"
No one dies, as Rick doesn't pull the trigger of the gun he pointed at his uber-rival. But Jim, played by "The Right Stuff" star Glenn, 86, isn't done.
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"I may have felt momentarily threatened," Glenn tells USA TODAY of Jim. "But I own the White Lotus hotels and half of Thailand. I have two heavily armed bodyguards. If I run into another situation down the line, I'll be able to take care of it."
What happened?
Rick's movie plan with fake director Frank worked
Rick has enlisted his newly sober former partner in crime Frank (Sam Rockwell) into the revenge plot. The surprise "White Lotus" actor pairing of real-life friends Rockwell and Goggins is already legendary. Glenn was among the millions who loved Frank's bizarre Episode 5 reveal about his Bangkok sex-and-drinking excess, paired with Goggins' reactions. "I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to pee in my pants," Glenn says.
Rick's action plan to get inside the heavily fortified Bangkok mansion that the reclusive Jim shares with his actress wife Sritala (Patravadi Mejudhon) has Frank pretend to be a director planning a major Hollywood movie and enlisting Sritala.
The plan works, even if Frank comically stumbles with career specifics when sweet-talking Sritala. Even though Jim suspects something is not right, he agrees to talk with Rick alone in his den while Frank woos Sritala. In their private conversation, Jim accepts that he could play tough when encountering "roadblocks," people who opposed his plans as a ruthless developer in 1970s Thailand. "I even say, 'Back in those days, I had a lot of options,'" says Glenn.
Glenn and "White Lotus" creator Mike White agreed on his character's backstory: The once-idealistic Jim moved to Thailand as part of the Peace Corps, but became a cutthroat businessman when amassing his fortune. Yet when Rick pulls out his gun and accuses Jim of killing his father, Jim's confused.
"When I hear him talk about his past, I start trying to figure it all out," says Glenn. "It is not just a crazy person, but a crazy person who has targeted me. The other thing going through my head is, 'What's that other guy doing with my wife?'"
Rather than shoot him, Rick disgustedly topples Jim to the ground in his desk chair. Glenn insists he performed the stunt when Goggins pushed the chair to the floor. "I did it maybe three times," says Glenn. "It was a short distance to the floor. Mike (White) takes care of everything."
Rick and Frank escape, but expect more Jim in the finale
Rick runs out of the den and grabs Frank, and they escape (but not before throwing out more verbal bonbons to Sritala). After zipping off in their longtail boat, the duo, including newly unsober Frank, celebrate in debaucherous Bangkok style.
But Jim will return in next week's finale in another encounter between classic actors and complex characters. The Hall of Fame intense actor ("The Right Stuff") and Marine veteran says he has been frustrated with his roles as an octogenarian.
"I've been offered five different parts, all of which I turned down," says Glenn. "Three of them were dying of Alzheimer's, one was in an iron lung, two of them were with walkers."
Jim carries a cane that doubles as a formidable weapon. Glenn, who practices Filipino Martial Arts, picked out the rattan creation himself. "I lean on it a little," he says. "But I chose that cane because it's a different kind of a problem."
Glenn, who starred in the AppleTV+ drama "Bad Monkey," had never watched "White Lotus" before discussing the role with White. But he's now a devotee, and excited to watch the finale.
"After watching 'The White Lotus,' I realize this whole thing is this amazing dance. And I've had the chance to join the Mike White circus," says Glenn, who made the 22-hour flight to Thailand four times for prolonged shoots.
Glenn won't say if Jim's really the killer or how significant it is that Rick's father was never found. But after first appearing briefly walking down the stairs in the Episode 6 cliffhanger ending, this showdown is going down.
"When people saw me first walk down those stairs, I told them, 'There'll be much more in the next episodes.'" says Glenn. "Stay tuned."