Walton Goggins shares emotional tribute to 'The White Lotus' hours after finale airs: 'To me, ours was a love story'

• Season three of 'The White Lotus' came to a close on Sunday night.
• Walton Goggins, one of the season's stars, shared an emotional tribute to the cast and crew on Instagram.
• Warning: spoilers ahead.

For weeks, the stars of "The White Lotus" have been tight-lipped about viewers' most burning question: Who dies?

That question was answered in the season three finale of the HBO hit, which aired on Sunday night — and some of the show's stars are finally getting to air their real feelings about their characters' fates.

Arguably no character has a more tragic arc in season three than Walton Goggins' long-suffering Rick. Rick arrives at the resort for a vacation with his younger girlfriend, Chelsea, but he's also there on a revenge mission against the man he believes killed his father.

Rick operates from pain and desperation. He's so obsessed with his past that he's often blind to the love Chelsea is offering him. In episodes seven and eight, he finally finds brief moments of absolution and lightness — moments of joy that are cut short when both he and Chelsea are killed off in the show's finale.

In the hours after the finale aired, Goggins took to Instagram to share a 235-word tribute to his character.

"Rick + Chelsea. With the heaviest of hearts… To me, ours was a love story. It was only ever a love story, hindered by unresolved, childhood trauma," Goggins wrote.

"We all have them… but can we move past them. In the depths of our despair there is always beauty around us. If we can sit with our pain, just sit with it… not react… not be defined by it…It's there… the love the world is constantly giving in any given moment is there," he continued.

Goggins thanked the show's creator, Mike White, writing, "Thank you Mike White for your imagination, your tender heart, for the privilege of giving us the opportunity to tell it."

He also thanked Aimee Lou Wood, who plays Chelsea, and Sam Rockwell, his scene mate and longtime friend.

The show was filmed over several months, primarily on the Thai island of Koh Samui. Wood told The Sunday Times that the cast accidentally found themselves going into Method acting during filming.

Season three featured both big names in Hollywood and some newcomers. Among the industry vets featured in this season are Parker Posey, Michelle Monaghan, and Jason Isaacs. The show pays all characters the same, non-negotiable salary.

Goggins' Instagram post after the finale aired drew reactions from fans, many of whom expressed love for the two ill-fated characters — and from at least one of his costars, Patrick Schwarzenegger.

"I'm crying," Schwarzenegger wrote on the post.