‘The White Lotus’ Star Michelle Monaghan Breaks Down Epic, Poetic Season 3 Finale: ‘It Felt Triumphant’

Note: This story contains spoilers from “The White Lotus” Season 3, Episode 8.

Before “The White Lotus” star Michelle Monaghan read the scripts for the Season 3 finale, she thought Jaclyn had as good of a chance at dying as any of the other guests at the Thailand resort.

“It can be anyone,” Monaghan told TheWrap. “Those dynamics were very complicated throughout the season, so you really didn’t know what direction Mike [White] would take the ladies, certainly throughout that week’s stay.”

While Monaghan noted the trio (which also includes Carrie Coon’s Laurie and Leslie Bibb’s Kate) ended their trip with “reconciliation and closure,” the fatal end fell to Walton Goggins’ Rick and Aimee Lou Wood’s Chelsea in an ending Monaghan called both “epic” and “triumphant.”

“Reading it took us as much on the ride as actually watching it … but, of course, I hadn’t actually seen Mike White’s touch on it, hadn’t seen my incredible co-stars’ performances and the depth, certainly, of their work on the show,” Monaghan said, adding that “you go a whole season bonding with these very people that you don’t know what is actually [brought] to the creative table … it felt triumphant, to be honest, and emotional. It was epic.”

Though Monaghan’s Jaclyn wasn’t physically impacted by the fatal finale shooting, the trio was present during the incident, giving Monaghan a first-hand look at the “iconic” scene of Rick discovering Chelsea dying before being shot in the back himself — on one of the hottest days of filming in Thailand, no less. Monaghan admitted that when she watched the finale on Sunday, she shed tears, especially after growing close to Goggins throughout production.

“I knew the journey he was up against — it was a really emotional journey for him and for Amy Lou,” she said, noting both of the actors were “committed and connected” to their work. “I felt for them as an actor, and then I felt for them as a fangirl of the show, watching this incredible relationship unfold, and yet it felt also like it was still a beautiful ending — that they were going to be together. It’s very poetic.”

Below, Monaghan unpacks the trio’s ending and how “radical honesty” helped them recommit to their friendship, and reveals that Jaclyn didn’t have the intention of hooking up with Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius).

TheWrap: In the finale, Jaclyn apologizes to Laurie about Valentin — why do you think she acted that way to begin with? Did she always plan on sleeping with Valentin?

Monaghan: She’s someone who’s walked through life without a whole lot of consequences to her actions and I think maintains an idea of being unaccountable to anything. She’s privileged, in that way, and also a little bit lost. I think she’s pretty complex. I don’t think she’s manipulative or malicious, so I don’t think she ever had the intention, actually, of hooking up with Valentin. I think she made that very impulsive decision at the end of that wild day [and] night and she’s also a little bit of a self-saboteur. She presents as someone who’s very, very happy, but I also think that she’s a little lonely as well.

It seems like Jaclyn dislikes Laurie’s honesty at first, but ends up dropping the act later. In what ways do you think Jaclyn grows over this week?

It’s really Laurie’s radical honesty, really, that allows for the ladies to kind of let go of these artifices that they’ve been carrying along this whole week. She just levels the playing field with her vulnerability and her truth and and when you have that kind of history with a friend, people that you love and that you care about, it knocks the wind out of you and you listen. These ladies — they’re going to move forward, they’re going to have this connection that they’ve been waiting for and what they really needed all week long. Unfortunately, they’re leaving the following day to return home. But I hope there’ll be another vacation for them in their future.

What do you think Jaclyn will take away from this experience? Will she tell her husband about Valentin?

I don’t think she’ll tell him about Valentin. She lacks accountability and I don’t know how well she communicates, so I don’t know if she’s going to go down that path with him. But I don’t know what kind of relationship they have; if they necessarily have a monogamous relationship, maybe they have an open relationship. I think, though, they have more of a complex relationship than we saw. But I think the most important takeaway from her is understanding that she has real friends that love her and that she needs to love a little bit better. And I think she needs to take a page out of Laurie’s book and practice some real radical honesty.

At last night’s panel, Leslie said she was kind of concerned at first that the women’s storyline was boring, was that ever a concern for you?

I can’t say that it was necessarily a concern. The storyline wasn’t as big as what the other ones felt like, but, also, for me, it was really emotional and I think what we brought to it was really great chemistry. The three of us, we’d never met before, worked together, and we prepped really well. Mike gave us great words, but he also trusts his actors to bring a lot of non-verbal to the page and into the performances. That’s where it started to feel very relatable for audiences.

Were you surprised that the trio’s storyline was such a fan-favorite?

Yes, 100% it surprised me. This whole experience has surprised me. I’ve been in this industry for 20 years [and] this is the first time I’ve ever been part of a project at this scale, and to truly witness everyone take it in and receive it and see how much joy it brings people has brought me so much joy. I never anticipated any of this. I left Thailand feeling positive about my experience, personally and professionally, but I never would have imagined that these memes would be created. We were known as “the ladies,” and then all of a sudden we were “the toxic trio.” Every time I saw that, it would crack me up. Just to see how much audiences have been invested in their journey, [that] it was really compelling and comforting to watch, because as women, we see so much of their behavior and their relationship mirrored as our own, I was really just proud to be there.

The whole season fans debated whether the trio loved or hated each other. Where do you think they leave off?

These women give us a glimpse into the complexities of women who have friendships. Absolutely, they love each other, but it’s not uncomplicated. Mike’s monologue in which Laurie just does so beautifully, I think she said, “We started this life together. We’re going through it apart, but we’re still together.” And I think that is meaningful — it’s not always going to come up roses, and people are going to go down different paths and we’re going to make different life choices, but we still respect each other and we still love each other. That doesn’t mean we’re not going to do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing, but recommitting to this friendship — I think they do love each other.

Would you want to follow the ladies further? Could they return for another trip someday?

Of course, why not? I’d go with those ladies anywhere on a holiday, personally or professionally. And the same goes for Mike White. He knows that.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

“The White Lotus” Seasons 1-3 are now streaming on Max.

The post ‘The White Lotus’ Star Michelle Monaghan Breaks Down Epic, Poetic Season 3 Finale: ‘It Felt Triumphant’ appeared first on TheWrap.