Leslie Bibb Explains Partner Sam Rockwell’s Surprise ‘White Lotus’ Casting: “It Was Very Last Minute”

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Another week of pondering what went down on The White Lotus.

Leslie Bibb dropped by CNN on Tuesday for a chat about the latest installment of Mike White’s HBO series featuring an unexpected appearance by her longtime partner in reality, Sam Rockwell.

She disclosed that the offer came unexpectedly, just about two weeks before they were set to start filming. She had mentioned to them when they proposed it to him that if he declined, she wasn’t responsible for their disappointment. He assured her, ‘I won’t blame you.’

Bibb mentioned that she communicated to the mastermind behind the series, both in front of and behind the camera: “Kindly don’t blame me for this. He is free to make his own decisions!

Maintaining the secrecy about Rockwell’s look was “extremely stressful,” as she didn’t want to accidentally reveal “spoilers.” She went on saying, “I’ve been telling white lies about being with Sam by myself.

In the scene by Rockwell, his persona, Frank, communicates this to Walton Goggins’ Rick: “Upon arriving in Thailand and engaging in multiple intimate encounters with women of Asian descent, it sparked a thought within me: ‘Perhaps what I truly yearn for is to become one of these Asian ladies.’

On Tuesday, Bibb shared with CBS Mornings that when she initially read Rockwell’s scripted scene, her immediate thought was: “This is simply outstanding television at its finest.

On holiday, the character of Bibb, named Kate, is traveling with her companions, Laurie (portrayed by Carrie Coon) and Jaclyn (played by Michelle Monaghan). Their relationship is marked by chatty exchanges and undercurrents of friction.

As a gamer, I’d say: “I got the sense that Mike was really aiming to discuss something significant for the show,” Bibb shared on CBS Mornings. She further elucidated that if Kate’s friends had been as honest as Frank, saying things like, ‘Hey, this is what’s going on in my life, I’m having issues with my marriage, I’m drinking too much, I’m dealing with this and that,’ they wouldn’t have been whispering about each other. Instead, they would’ve dropped their defenses, shown vulnerability. And that’s exactly what Mike did – he laid out his truth without apologies.

Watch the last three episodes of season three’s The White Lotus on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on Max.

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2025-03-19 04:24