The White Lotus salaries: How much each actor is paid for season three

It doesn’t matter if you’re world famous movie star, a nepo baby or a massive pop idol, everyone on The White Lotus is treated the same.

Ahead of the season three finale on Monday, creator Mike White, his producers and many of the cast participated in a Hollywood Reporter tell-all oral history of the Thailand instalment.

One of the juiciest things to come out is how much money everyone is paid. While the no one is directly quoted about the salaries, The Hollywood Reporter did write multiple sources told it that series regular cast is paid “roughly $US40,000 an episode”.

Producer David Bernad said, “Everyone is treated the same, and we do alphabetical billing, so you’re getting people who want to do the project for the right reasons, not the quote The Bachelor.

“It’s a system we developed in the first season because there was no money to make the show.”

Casting director Meredith Tucker added, “It makes it so much easier. You tell people this is what it is, and some won’t do it – and honestly, you can’t hold it against people who need to make a living.”

One of those people, according to The Hollywood Reporter, was Woody Harrelson, who had been eyed to play Rick, Walton Goggins’ role. Apparently, Harrelson (or his representatives) went all the way up the chain to parent company boss Warner Bros Discovery chief executive David Zaslav to see if there was room to negotiate the salary and the actor was rebuffed.

Which worked out for Goggins and for the world, who now has the gif(t) of his reaction from episode five after hearing his buddy Frank’s (Sam Rockwell) sex addition confession.

The season three episodes are said to cost in the region of $US6 million to $US7 million. Season one was cheaper at $US4 million.

Carrie Coon, who plays one of the three frenemies on the show, confirmed a role in The White Lotus is highly coveted among actors and that “everyone auditions” for the series.

Tucker backed this up, “I think people love this show so much that they’re willing to audition”.

Once you’ve hit a certain level of profile, many actors don’t audition anymore, they’re just asked to be involved. One imagines Meryl Streep’s last audition was in the 1970s.’

Perhaps the audition rule has changed as The White Lotus’s popularity grew after its first season. Natasha Rothwell told The Nightly she didn’t have to audition for the show’s first season on which she originated the character of spa manager Belinda, before returning for the Thailand chapter.

She said, “I got in on the ground floor and I didn’t even have to audition to be Belinda. That’s a fun fact.

“My agent was like, ‘Do you want meet Mike White?’, and I was like, ‘With all my heart, I followed his career, I love him’. She said, ‘He’s working on a show, and it may lead to something, it may not’.

“We just talked for 45 minutes and then the next day, I got the call from my agent being like, ‘You got the part’, and I’m like, ‘For what?’.”

The White Lotus is streaming on Max and Binge*, the season finale is on April 7

*On Binge until May 7