‘The White Lotus’ star Sam Nivola talks Lochlan’s latest desperate act, teases ‘chaotic, complex, devastating’ finale

The following interview contains spoilers from the seventh episode of The White Lotus Season 3, titled "Killer Instincts."

Even before the airing of the provocative sixth episode of The White Lotus Season 3, Sam Nivola, who plays insecure high school senior Lochlan, felt a shift. On a break from filming the Bobby Farrelly-directed indie comedy Driver's Ed in Wilmington, North Carolina, he'd recently returned to New York City for the weekend. "I've never been recognized in my life before this show," the 21-year-old son of actors Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola tells Gold Derby. "And suddenly it was like I literally couldn't walk down the street in my hometown, which is cool — it's awesome to have people recognize your work — but it's also intense." There's less walking in Wilmington, he notes with a laugh, so he didn’t have too many fans of the HBO drama approach him last week to discuss the reveal that Lochlan had pleasured his older brother, Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), while losing his virginity in a hazy yacht threesome.

Nivola spoke to Gold Derby about processing that scene, Lochlan's subsequent temple stay with sister Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) in the seventh episode, and how he felt reading the script for the April 6 season finale.

Gold Derby: You've made the point that the yacht scene was not about the sex act; it was Lochlan's misguided attempt to connect with his sex-obsessed brother.

Sam Nivola: I found it clear from Mike White's brilliant writing that Lochlan was a pretty lonely, lost soul right from the start. And so when that [scene] came along, I was like, "Yeah, it makes sense. It’s his sad attempt at being a people-pleaser." I think Lochlan really f--ked up — he's really young and naive and did something really stupid and morally unforgivable, terrible — but I don't think he's evil. I don't think he's trying to, like, molest his brother. He's just a people-pleaser looking for attention. In terms of Lochlan's sexuality, I don't think any of his actions are sexually driven. I think they're more driven by, "What can I do to make my brother happy? And it's like, my brother's favorite thing is sex. He’s always talking about getting me laid. He wants to get me laid. So OK, let's find a way to get me laid."

In Episode 7, Lochlan accompanies Piper on her overnight visit to the temple. A scene at a table starts off funny, with her silently communicating for him to eat his meal, but then Lochlan literally bites off more than he can chew. Was that the symbolism there: He's choking trying to please her?

That's exactly what it is. Especially after Episode 6, it's like he’s totally destroyed any connection he has with Saxon, because obviously Saxon doesn't want to even look at Lochlan, let alone talk to him anymore. And that's understandable given what happened. And his parents are so f--king out of it, like they're either high as hell or in withdrawal from said drugs, so they're not going to be any help. So Piper is his last resort of someone to just sort of show him the way and give him some answers. Now he’s doing whatever he can to make her happy.

Piper sneaks into Lochlan’s room at night to ask his opinion about the monk with whom she wants to study, and Lochlan says he likes that he's all about how to be the best person you can be and how to live your life trying not to make things worse for other people: "I don't want to give into my dark sh--. I don't want to make things worse." What do you think he considers his 'dark sh--' in that moment?

I think that all the stuff on the yacht is pretty dark shit. I almost think "giving into the dark sh--" is like remembering it and fully acknowledging it. He's like, I don't want that. That's not who I am. I don't want to give in to the version of myself that I don't like. But I think he's also still trying to find out what the version of himself that he does like is. There's a lot of self-loathing.

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After Lochlan expresses that support, Piper tells him that he's the best and that she loves him. There's a wide shot of her hand on shirtless Lochlan's knee, and enough of a pause for viewers to feel uncomfortable — like, is Lochlan going to lean in? Was that thought on your radar?

Yeah, it was. I mean, the dynamic of the whole family is supposed to feel like it crosses boundaries in every scene, basically. In the very first episode, there's Saxon tickling Piper and she's giggling and all this stuff that when we're shooting it is really fun and funny and silly, but is also kind of dark and weird. There was a big scene that I had with Sarah Catherine Hook, I can't remember if it got cut or already aired, where Piper is explaining that mom has kind of led us to believe that the world is out to get us, and that the only thing that matters is staying close to your family, and everyone else is evil and we are virtuous and we have to stick together. I think that kind of mentality is really unhealthy and breeds a lot of boundary crossing. That's a baseline theme that, in Episode 6, obviously gets taken to the extreme, but it's always there.

Lochlan shocks Piper when he says he’s been thinking that he should take a gap year and stay with her at the temple, because he never wants to go home. To me, it seemed like Piper was realizing she wouldn't be able to escape the family if he joined her. How did you interpret her reaction?

I think there's a little bit of that, of, "I want to get away from all of this, and this whole thing about us being too close is not helped by you coming with me." But I also think she does care about Lochlan. She’s making a big extreme decision by coming here, but she’s thought about it a lot and it is what she has to do. But he's just a kid who wants to do it because she's doing it, and that's not the right reason. He can't just run away.

You were able to devour all the scripts for Season 3 on the plane to Thailand ahead of filming. How would you describe the emotions you felt reading the finale as more of a fan at that point?

There was lots of confusion and back and forth. Mike White is very good at misleading the audience in various ways, making them think something's gonna happen and then something else happens. It's chaotic and complex and fascinating and devastating, but it's amazing. He knows how to write a finale. I think it's gonna be really satisfying this season, especially because there's so many storylines — more than there have been in either of the previous seasons, I think — and it ties them all up in a really cool way. It's like Magnolia or something.

Is the conclusion satisfying for Lochlan?

No, it's definitely not satisfying for the character, but it is satisfying for me as a consumer of art to see. We as humans have solution-oriented brains, and we love recognizing patterns and sticking to that. I've said this before, but when I first spoke to Mike after having read the scripts, I was like, "My understanding was when a character leaves the White Lotus, they're a totally different person — you change in some way, for better or for worse. Is that what the hotel does to you?" He was like, "No, no, because that's unrealistic. Like, sure that happens to some people, but some people never change or some people might change later but one week in a hotel isn't enough to do it." That was one of the many smart tidbits he told me that just made me so, so honored to be in his presence. Hopefully this isn't a spoiler — it's more of an emotional thing — but Lochlan kind of winds up where he started. He doesn't grow as much as he would have liked to have grown. I think that's realistic and sort of devastating.

Let’s end with a few fun questions. You left Thailand with all of Lochlan's swimsuits. Did you take anything else from the set?

I was just thinking about this earlier today. I saw some video of some dude on the internet, like, these are all the watches the White Lotus cast wears. And I had this really cool Omega watch that I wanted to take. They said I could have it, but I just literally forgot to take it on the last day, which sucks. I didn't take very much. My bag was pretty damn full from stuff I had bought around Thailand, like clothes from thrift stores and tons of Tiger Balm and whatnot. I didn't really have enough room in my suitcase. But I took new friendships and life experience. [Laughs]

Being in North Carolina filming Driver's Ed, have you heard a lot of people’s impressions of your White Lotus mom Parker Posey's accent?

I have. When we all met with Liz Himelstein, who was our dialect coach, Parker was saying she was gonna do a slightly over-the-top version of a North Carolinian accent because it's funny. And it f--king is. It's hilarious, and she's brilliant. So from my understanding, people down here don't sound quite as stereotypically Southern as she does, but it's pretty close. I mean, it's like she got the accent perfect and then just sort of dialed it up to 11, you know.

You’ve shared how filming the White Lotus yacht threesome you almost passed out because it was like holding a one-armed plank for hours. Is there anything as physically demanding for you in Driver's Ed?

[Laughs] Let me think. There's a lot of driving. My character is a senior in high school, and his girlfriend goes away to college and breaks up with him over the phone. He decides to hijack the driver's ed car and go on a road trip to win her back… I'll tell you what's exhausting is White Lotus was, like, seven months, working three days a week, because you're only in so much of it because there's so many storylines, whereas this is an indie movie on a tight budget and we have 24 shoot days to shoot like 130 pages of dialogue. It's tiring by nature of us not having too much time, but it's really fun in its own ways. I love indie cinema. Without that, where would we be?

Speaking of White Lotus downtime, you recently posted some photos from Thailand on your Instagram. What was your favorite off-screen activity? It looks like there was karaoke.

Karaoke was a fun one. Jason Isaacs' karaoke song is "We Are Family," which I loved doing with him because it's funny since he plays my dad. I also loved going on all the boats. Being at that resort, the point of going to those things is to be with the people you love and just relax. So the most fun I had was just having dinner with all the other actors, who are so brilliant and such good friends of mine. That was the highlight, just getting to hang out.

The White Lotus airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.