A good "The White Lotus" cast is a star-studded thing but with plenty of room for casting surprises, and "The White Lotus" season 3 has been no exception.
The Thailand-set installment is brimming with familiar faces, from "Fallout" star Walton Goggins to "Toxic Town" actress Aimee Lou Wood, from "The Gilded Age" star Carrie Coon to indie queen Parker Posey. But the March 16 episode featured a new addition to the starry cast, with an Oscar winner dropping by the resort for a surprise cameo.
Season 3 episode 5 saw the arrival of the great Sam Rockwell, known for his Academy Award-winning turn as a distressed police officer in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri", as well as his Oscar-nominated work as George W. Bush in the 2018 Adam McKay political satire "Vice" and his Emmy-nominated performance as Bob Fosse in the FX bio miniseries "Fosse/Verdon.
Rockwell showed up in the HBO hit as Frank, an old friend of White Lotus guest Rick Hatchett (Goggins). They met up at a Bangkok bar during his quest to settle a personal score.
After giving Rick a duffle bag containing a handgun, Rockwell's Frank unleashed a monologue about his newfound sobriety. "When I got here, oh, I was like a kid in a candy store," Frank explained to Rick.
"If you got money, no attachments, nothing to do. I started partying. It got wild."
As Rockwell's character relayed some of those more, ahem, wild details to his buddy, Goggins' Rick hilariously reacted with a meme-worthy amount of shock and awe.
Rockwell's appearance isn't the first time that an Oscar winner has dropped by the show, with "Everything Everywhere All at Once" star Ke Huy Quan lending his voice to a previous episode this season, but Rockwell has personal connections to not one but two members of the cast.
Firstly, he's a longtime friend of series star Goggins, with whom he co-starred in 2011's "Cowboys & Aliens".
"Sam is one of my best friends, and he's also one of my heroes," Goggins told USA Today about acting alongside his real-life pal. "It was riddled with anxiety because we know each other so well, and I certainly didn't want to let him down."
But Rockwell has also been in a romantic relationship with actress Leslie Bibb — who plays Kate Bohr in "The White Lotus" season 3, one-third of the friend trio that also includes Carrie Coon's Laurie Duffy and Michelle Monaghan's Jaclyn Lemon — since 2007, having met while Sam was filming "Frost/Nixon."
This is not the first time that the Hollywood couple has worked on the same project, having both appeared in "Iron Man 2" and "Don Verdean".
However, despite their real-world connection, Bibb and Rockwell didn't share any scenes during this Sunday's episode. And Bibb, who regularly shares personal pics and professional intel on her social media handles, graciously didn't spill the beans about her partner's outrageous cameo last night.
It remains to be seen whether Frank will materialize again in "The White Lotus" season 3 and, if he does, whether Rockwell and Bibb will get to act opposite each other on the HBO hit.
In the meantime, Tom's Guide will have all of your fresh news regarding the third season of "The White Lotus," from plot points to character details to, yes, movie star cameos.
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