Yep, “The White Lotus” went there.
The Season 3 premiere of the hit HBO series kicked off with an apparent incest storyline between Patrick Schwarzenegger’s character, Saxon Ratliff, and his younger brother Lochlan (Sam Nivola).
The pair gave viewers incestuous vibes after they arrived in Thailand with their sister Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), dad Timothy (Jason Isaacs) and mom Victoria (Parker Posey).
Towards the end of the episode, the brothers are laying in bed in their shared room when Saxon says their sister is “pretty hot” but is probably still a virgin, and asks Lochlan what porn he likes.
Then, Saxon gets naked in the bathroom, and notices that Lochlan is staring at him.
After the episode aired, viewers flocked to X (formerly Twitter) to share their reactions to the creepy scenes between the brothers.
“Just saw season 3 premiere of White Lotus. Is it just me or there’s an incest relationship going on between the brothers?” one fan tweeted.
“Please tell me there’s not an incest storyline,” another fan wrote.
Someone else said, “Can already see the gay incest storyline happening…”
A different commenter added, “I’m 15 minutes in and i already sense an incest storyline w these kids..”
“What the f–k is up with the incest in the new white lotus season i’m scared,” said another fan.
Meanwhile, a different person speculated, “Everyone’s talking about the White Lotus brother incest but I’m pretty sure the eldest brother is sleeping with the father and the youngest has a thing going with his sister.”
In an interview with Decider, Schwarzenegger, 31, confirmed Saxon and Lochlan give incestuous energy in their interactions.
“I think he defines himself as the one that knows everything and that he’s correct and he’s right and that his siblings are lost and confused and he needs to groom his brother before it’s too late,” the actor said.
Arnold Schwarzengger and Maria Shriver’s son broke down the Ratliff brothers’ dynamic more with Vanity Fair, noting that creator Mike White dropped “little Easter eggs” from the start of the episode.
“I’m always kind of talking about things about sex and stuff for my brother. He’s setting up just these little Easter eggs of what is odd and off about this family, which is fun,” said Patrick. “The end of the first episode, that scene was one of my favorite scenes. I just thought it was so awkward and brilliant at the same time. And it just showcases who my character is. He is just like, ‘pussy, money, and freedom. Those are the things. That’s all that matters in life.’”
“And that’s a setup of what’s to come: when you don’t have those things, what does it do to you?” he continued. “And then he walks around just naked—it’s like a power shift and a power dynamic between the two of them. And I remember reading that and just being like, ‘what?’”
White seemed to confirm the incest storyline himself in a recent interview with The New Yorker, where he said that Season 3 of the show has a gay plotline that is “truly Satanic.”
“The White Lotus” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and streams on Max.
