Though the story of The White Lotus has always been more self-contained, there are some moments where the show has some commentary on current social issues—like the three blonde friends figuring out that one of them is a Trump supporter.
As it turns out, the Trump thing also managed to cut one particular subplot about Carrie Coon’s character Laurie. As it turns out, she was supposed to have a child that identified as nonbinary.
Talking to Harper’s Bazaar, Coon explained, “You originally found out that her daughter was actually nonbinary, maybe trans, and going by they/them… You see Laurie struggling to explain it to her friends, struggling to use they/them pronouns, struggling with the language, which was all interesting.”
Though it wasn’t a major scene in the series, Coon thought that it explained why Laurie was so offended when it was implied that Kate voted for Trump. Coon continued:
“The season was written before the election. And considering the way the Trump administration has weaponized the cultural war against transgender people even more since then, when the time came to cut the episode down, [showrunner Mike White] felt that the scene was so small and the topic so big that it wasn’t the right way to engage in that conversation.”
Following the series, it does come out that Coon’s character is the most fleshed out one among the three women, but there is also some surprising depth to Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan).
It’s not clear how things are all going to come to an end in the finale, but everyone is hoping that Laurie comes out alive.
Catch new episodes of The White Lotus Season 3 Sunday Nights on Max.
