Walton Goggins Unravels That ‘White Lotus' Revenge Reveal
[This story contains spoilers from the season three, episode four of , 'Hide or Seek.']
Why exactly is Rick Hatchett in Thailand? It's one of the biggest mysteries of The White Lotus season three thus far, and now, we have our answer, and it's best served up in the form of a classic quote: 'You killed my father. Prepare to die!'Rick, played by Walton Goggins, reveals his true motives to girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) in this week's episode, confirming what many viewers suspected already: the man's here on a vengeance quest.
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'We're here because the dude who murdered my father owns this hotel,' he blurts out. 'My father was here trying to do the right thing and one day he disappeared, and they never found him. My mother told me the name of the guy who did it and he owns this hotel, and half of fucking Thailand.'
Just one problem for Rick — the man he's looking for isn't at the hotel, he's in Bangkok, which means leaving Chelsea behind for at least an episode or two in pursuit of vengeance. Will he reach his goal, or will something else get in the way? Is Rick's dark destiny a foregone conclusion already, or is there still room for him to grow and change? As hotel wellness coach Amrita (Shalini Peiris) tells him: 'You have touched my heart. And I hope you will hear me when I say, you are not stuck. You can let go of your story. You can escape the karmic cycle, find peace in this life. I have hope for you.' Should we have hope as well? Below, Goggins talks to The Hollywood Reporter about what to expect from Rick in this next half of the season.
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Rick's a bit of a different character for you.
He's quiet, isn't he?
Yes, and very intense. I'm used to Uncle Baby Billy and Boyd Crowder, and all the loquacious dialogue. Rick seems like a man who has a lot to say, but maybe doesn't have Boyd or Baby Billy's words to express himself.
You know, there are performances in this show that are so fun to watch and they bring all of this energy and this laughter to these moments. I've had a career filled with those. I've been very fortunate to have the opportunity to be in that position. I have been in the position that I'm in in this show a few times over the course of my career. Some of those people have seen, some of them they haven't, but the thing that resonated so deeply with me about Rick, is his motivation for being on this island. His reasons for being here at this resort were clearer than anyone else's right out of the gate, but they're the last to be revealed, and the pain that he's carrying into this experience that is unexplained and this behavior and this asshole-esque quality that he has, there's a reason for all of it.
Once that reason is revealed, once it's revealed that this guy who has been running from his past, his whole life, existing on the fringes of society, doing nefarious things to make a pretty good living, someone who is as bitter as him, who is as angry as him, who is as lost as him — once their motivations for being there become crystallized? Then it's about a lot of things, man, that a lot of people can relate to. It's about consequences. It's about justice. It's about the lack of forgiveness. It is about the un-evolved self. What Mike White is saying through this particular character's journey has something very important to teach. I hope if we've done our job right, it will resonate with the rest of us.
Really, everybody in this story is incredible. Every actor.
It's some career-best work from a whole lot of you.
It's crazy. That's the table that Mike White sets and that's the kind of work and commitment that he supports and everybody, everybody, is shifted and changed in some way where we end up as characters. And the same thing happened to all of us individually as actors. I can't wait for people to see where it all goes and what it is that Mike is saying and for people to see themselves reflected in the journey of all these characters.
In some ways, Rick almost reads like a ronin from classic samurai cinema. Did you watch anything like that to prepare for the role?
Yeah, I'm a big Kurosawa fan, so I know what you mean. Did I watch specific movies for this? Yeah, but maybe they were movies that you might not equate to the journey this person is on. I listen to a lot of specific music. Also, I've traveled a lot in my life, man. I've been on the road for a long time. I have sat with monks over the course of my journey. I've sat with thieves over the course of my journey. I've sat with the ugly Americans on vacation. I've smoked weed with a lot of them and drank with most of them.
The point being, when I read this for the first time, Mike really understood this person because he has the wanderlust the same way I do. He looks for that in people. He observes people in the wild, if you will, on vacations in that way. And I do the same thing. I've met versions of this guy and just as importantly, I went to Thailand [earlier in my life] looking to heal myself in the most traumatic period of my life. I fucking am this guy on some level, or at least I understand him.
So you didn't have to look too far outside yourself to tap in.
Yeah. I have such empathy for him, and Mike said it best, that these people that have been operating on the fringes of society for so long are incapable of relating to people the way that you and I are relating to each other right now. Where everything is transactional and there's a motivation or they're trying to get something right. There is no giving something without getting something in return for these people. And in Thailand, for a lot of these guys, you're looking for something or you're running from something. They're ubiquitous in places like this, not just Thailand, but a lot of these expat alternative countries where people can escape. And so I felt like I had him right out of the gate. It was just a matter of giving myself permission to go back to some of these places that I'd never wanted to go back to again.
How tough was it to let yourself go back there?
Tough. Really tough. I feel like being able to talk about the show now, I feel like I'm finally able to let it go. You're going to be very surprised where it ends. Everybody has their own destination that they get to in the show, and it all is so personal for all of us and everybody showed up and just did the best job that they could do. They didn't want to let Mike down and they didn't want to let each other down, and I'm just so grateful I had the chance to do it.
***
The White Lotus season three releases new episodes Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and Max. Follow along with THR's season coverage and interviews.
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