The White Lotus cut Jennifer Coolidge drug hallucination scene with returning season one characters
Jennifer Coolidge reportedly filmed a wild drug hallucination scene for The White Lotus. (HBO)
Lukas Gage has revealed he filmed a return to The White Lotus for what would have been another iconic Jennifer Coolidge moment.
Coolidge’s iconic Tanya McQuoid would have seen season one’s hotel staffer Dillon (Gage) and awkward teen Quinn Mossbacher (Fred Hechinger) during a drug-fuelled hallucination, Gage said
Gage, whose character was famously rimmed by Murray Bartlett, told the Hollywood Reporter that they actually filmed the scenes, but that they were cut because they didn’t make sense in the larger picture of the season.
“Fred [Hechinger] and I did a scene for season two. When Jennifer [Coolidge’s character] is with the gays in Palermo, she originally opens a door in the villa and sees a shot of me doing drugs that turns out to be an illusion,” said Gage, who is currently starring in psychological drama You.
Tanya and her devious husband Greg (Jon Gries) were the only returning characters from the show’s first season to feature in the second.
The episode in question sees the “gays in Palermo” offer Coolidge’s character a cocktail of drugs, including a hell of a lot of cocaine – which could explain the hallucinations.
Gage said that the scene “didn’t work with the show”, but that he didn’t care because he received a free trip to Sicily.
“It got cut because it didn’t work with the show, but I didn’t care because I got a free trip to the Four Seasons. And now for season three, I’m literally writing Mike [White] every day like, hey, remember me!”
The second season of the nudity-filled dark comedy was filmed in Taormina at the San Domenico Palace, a five-star resort operated by Four Seasons.
The White Lotus creator Mike White has already revealed some vague plans for season three of the award-winning, career-boosting comedy-drama.
The White Lotus could go to Asia for its third season for a “satirical” look at “spirituality” and Eastern cultures, according to White. Unfortunately, Coolidge will not be present, as Tanya died after seeing off the gays who tried to murder her.
Perhaps a hallucination is needed.
