The coming-of-age hit series The White Lotus recently premiered its third season on HBO. According to Deadline, actress Carrie Coon (also known for The Sinner series in 2017 and the Disney+ Series What If..? which began in 2021) who stars as Laurie, or the “Blonde Blob” in the Toxic Trio, has garnered fan’s attention with her most recent comments on a cut plot line in which would have involved the introduction to her non-binary daughter.
Seasons one and two tackled different issues such as class, power, privilege, and the complexity of sex and relationships. While the show is technically labeled a ‘satirical comedy drama’, its third season has seemingly gone viral for its touch on the present political issues in which America is facing. Amid previous episodes such as episode 5 ‘Full Moon Party’ discussed in a previous Mxdwn article, highlighted more personal issues such as alcoholism and depression among the characters.
According to Deadline, the creator of the series, Mike White, who is known for his works on shows such as Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000) and the comedy movie Nacho Libre in 2006, originally wrote Laurie’s non-binary child, with pronouns of they/them, into the script before cutting it due to Donald Trump’s re-election. Coon stated in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, “The season was written before the election. And considering the way the Trump Administration has weaponized the cultural war against transgender people even more since then, when the time came to cut the episode down, Mike felt that the scene was so small and the topic was so big, that it wasn’t the right way to engage that conversation.”
The viral scene which got viewers questioning and Coon talking about the changes features Laurie, Kate (Leslie Bibb) and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) as they sit around a candlelit dinner talking about their lives. The girls focus on Kate, as she discusses her recent move to Austin, Texas and her family’s ongoing commitment to attend church every Sunday. Her friends begin quizzing her on the awkwardness she must feel being around “Bible thumpers who voted for Trump”. However, Kate seems to allude that it does not bother her at all, leaving her friends to question whether she voted for Trump in the 2024 election. While her character does not directly admit her vote other than being independent, she responds by casually sipping her drink and brushing off the political topic.
With the season seemingly jumping into current political issues, the cut of Laurie’s non-binary child has left some fans disappointed at the removal of representation for the LGBTQ+ community. However, Coon also adds to her statements that she does believe the cut worked, as it created such a provocative energy to the scene, shedding light onto her character’s beliefs and ideologies. “It was only a short scene, but for me, it did make the question whether Kate voted for Trump so much more provocative and personally offensive to Laurie, considering who her child is in the world.”
The previous two seasons are available to watch on the streaming service.
