Carrie Coon Says ‘White Lotus’ Cut Nonbinary Trans Scene
The White Lotus Season 3: Political Themes Explored
Season 3 of “The White Lotus” has taken a political turn, with a viral scene featuring Kate (Leslie Bibb) refusing to disclose her vote for Donald Trump, causing a stir among her friends Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) and Laurie (Carrie Coon). However, according to Coon, the scene originally had a deeper political context that was ultimately cut from the final episode.
In a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Coon revealed that a detail about Laurie’s personal life, specifically her nonbinary or possibly transgender daughter who uses they/them pronouns, was initially included in the script. This character trait added a layer of complexity to Laurie’s reaction to Kate’s political stance.
“It was only a short scene, but for me, it did make the question of whether Kate voted for Trump so much more provocative and personally offensive to Laurie, considering who her child is in the world,” Coon explained.
However, due to Trump’s re-election and the heightened cultural war against transgender individuals during his administration, series creator Mike White decided to omit this character detail from the final cut.
“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, Mike felt that the scene was so small and the topic so big that it wasn’t the right way to engage in that conversation,” Coon elaborated.
White’s nuanced approach to his characters was also highlighted by Coon, emphasizing that they are multi-dimensional and not defined by one aspect of their identity. She commended White for his willingness to tackle challenging cultural conversations in his work.
Reflecting on the scene, Bibb shared her surprise at how relevant it became in the current political climate. “When we were filming it, it actually felt like it was going to be irrelevant,” she noted in an interview with Variety.
