The White Lotus Season 3: How Did The Cast And Crew Keep Jon Gries' Return A Secret?
The White Lotus usually drops a bombshell or two over the course of a season – but the big surprise of the third run dropped in the very first season.
After establishing the guests and hotel staff whose stories we’d be following in the latest run, as well as reintroducing us to season one’s spa manager Belinda, viewers were left stunned when another familiar face was drawn back into the story.
Yes, we’re talking about Jon Gries, who managed to keep completely schtum about the fact that he’d be back as Greg (now known as Gary) in season three.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the cast and crew revealed how they managed to keep it all a secret.
Executive producer David Barnad told the outlet that pretty “soon” into the process, “we figured out that Jon Gries was also going to return and he was so committed to keeping it a secret”.
“There was no press release for him, no premiere, no photos,” he explained.
“At one point, we were going from Phuket to Bangkok, which is like a 12-hour drive, and he drove in a car with the equipment just to avoid being spotted with us at an airport.”
Jon himself added: “I told people I was going to the Philippines to film a new TV show for a European network.”
“I’m using this as a platform to apologise to everybody that I’ve lied to,” he then quipped.
Patrick Schwarzenegger – who has shared several scenes with Jon over the course of season three, including a very tense get-together at his mansion in the penultimate episode – went on to admit he was so “scared” of letting the cat out of the bag that he tried not to even take photos with Jon on his phone on set.
The White Lotus concludes on Monday in the UK, with the finale available to watch on Sky and Now from the morning onwards.