Published by Cel Manero from Global One Media Inc.
In season 3 of The White Lotus, the actor’s character travels to Thailand on a quest to seek revenge for his father’s death.
Similar to his character in The White Lotus, Walton Goggins once traveled to Thailand with a purpose. In the show, his character, Rick Hatchett, goes to the country seeking revenge for his father’s death, only to discover in the April 6 finale that the person he believed to be his father’s killer was actually his father himself.
“I don’t think he was given the chance to process it,” Goggins, 53, shared with Vulture. “He absorbs the information, and before he can fully grasp it, he’s being shot at.”
Rick ends up killing his father, played by Scott Glenn, which leads to a deadly shootout that also results in the deaths of Rick and his girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood).
Nearly two decades ago, Goggins made a similar journey to Thailand after the tragic suicide of his first wife, Leanne, in 2004.
“I went to Thailand 18 years ago after a traumatic event in my life, searching for peace and resolution, much like what Rick was seeking,” Goggins explained. “The circumstances were vastly different. I had been in a relationship with my now-wife for a year, yet I felt as lost as Rick. I had nothing to offer my partner, and I deeply understood Rick’s state of mind.”
When Goggins read the script for The White Lotus season 3, he felt that the universe had brought the role to him for a reason. “I thought, I understand him, I love him, and I love people like him. I don’t think he’s alone in the world,” Goggins said.
He connected with Rick in a way that made the character feel very real. “Rick Hatchett is not a fictional character to me,” Goggins explained. “He’s a real person, consumed by something that happened to him that was beyond his control.” Goggins, who married writer and director Nadia Conners in 2011, found a deep personal resonance with Rick’s struggles.
The actor shared with Vulture that after the death of his first wife, he embarked on an emotional and spiritual journey that taught him “hard-won” lessons about himself.
“I think most of us begin without the tools to love ourselves or even the space to truly understand what that means,” he reflected. “Some people never manage to transcend in that way and learn to love themselves. I had reached a point in my journey, shaped by a series of events in my life. I spent three years searching and realized I couldn’t move forward as the person I was before that moment.”
The two-time Emmy nominee explained that he learned to forgive himself and embraced the idea that he doesn’t “have to be anything other than what you are.” He also discovered how to find beauty within despair.
“It’s up to us to see it,” Goggins said. “That was my journey, and that’s Rick’s journey. We’re not the only ones who’ve experienced this. It’s all of our journeys. Whether you’ve lost a job, a spouse, been molested, or abandoned, we all carry these traumas. We all have them. We’re far more alike than we realize.”
