Here’s Why “The White Lotus” Producers Initially “Didn’t Want” Patrick Schwarzenegger To Play Saxon

When Patrick Schwarzenegger first showed up in The White Lotus, it’s likely most people only knew him as the child of two very famous people. But now, it’s fair to say that his standout performance as Saxon Ratliff has helped him carve out his own name in Hollywood.

If his last name hadn’t already given it away, Patrick is the oldest son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. Having already appeared in shows like Gen V and The Staircase, Patrick previously denied claims that he was cast on The White Lotus — one of the most “highly coveted” jobs for actors right now — simply because of his famous ties.

“I know there are people who’ll say I only got this role because of who my dad is,” Patrick told the Sunday Times in February, shortly after The White Lotus Season 3 premiered on HBO. “They’re not seeing that I’ve had ten years of acting classes, put on [high] school plays every week, worked on my characters for hours on end or the hundreds of rejected auditions I’ve been on.”

At the time, the nepotism of it all caused a fair amount of backlash, with many fans expressing frustration that, while emphasizing how hard he’d worked, Patrick failed to directly acknowledge the leg-up that comes with growing up in a wealthy and well-connected Hollywood family. But now, as Season 3 of The White Lotus draws to a close, the team behind the show has shed more light on how Patrick was cast.

In a wide-ranging interview for the Hollywood Reporter published this week, producer David Bernad recalled the arduous process of finding the perfect actors to play the Ratliff brothers, Saxon and Lochlan, admitting there were serious apprehensions about Patrick. “Patrick Schwarzenegger’s last name worked against him, by the way,” David said. “We didn’t want to cast him because of that.”

Fortunately for Patrick, they thought he was “just so good” that he landed the part anyway. But that didn’t mean they didn’t have concerns about him accepting the role. If you’ve watched any of this season — or even if you haven’t — you’ll know about the incest storyline that centers on the Ratliff brothers. Notably, the show’s producers said this aspect of the scripts meant that finding actors to play the Ratliffs involved “more auditions” and “more legwork.”

“For that stuff with the brothers, we had to tell people beforehand,” casting director Meredith Tucker recalled. “We said, ‘There is going to be some same-sex kissing and stuff. Are you comfortable with that?’ I think maybe one kid for Sam’s role [Lochlan Ratliff] dropped out, but some of these kids were barely 18, so I could understand.”

David said that when they eventually sent the contracts and scripts over to Patrick and Sam Nivola, who played Lochlan, they were “anxious” that either of them would drop out at the last minute. Luckily, it sounds like neither of the actors were too fazed. “When they sent me my contract, it was like, ‘You have to be comfortable with sexually explicit scenes or whatever,’” Sam recalled. “I was like, ‘Sure, yeah, I’ve never really done anything like that on camera — first time for everything.’ But I was not expecting that!”