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Woody Harrelson didn’t check into “The White Lotus” for good reason.
The actor, 63, revealed he was going to star in the third season of the HBO drama but ultimately had to turn it down.
“I was set to do ‘White Lotus’ and very excited,” Harrelson told The Daily Beast on Friday. “Unfortunately, their production schedule shifted and conflicted with a pre-planned family vacation, forcing me to make an extremely hard decision.”
“He was set to do the show and they moved the date,” his reps added.
Harrelson’s comments come on the heels of HBO executives revealing to The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday that the actor was up for two particular roles in Thailand.
One being the main character Rick, played by Walton Goggins, while the other option was for a guest role as Rick’s friend, Frank, portrayed by Sam Rockwell.
THR says two sources shared with them that Harrelson met with Warner Brothers CEO David Zaslav to try and up his salary.
As one of the show’s producers, David Bernard, explained to the outlet, salaries are “not negotiable.”
“Everyone is treated the same on ‘The White Lotus,’” the producer continued. “They get paid the same, and we do alphabetical billing, so you’re getting people who want to do the project for the right reasons, not to quote ‘The Bachelor.’ It’s a system we developed in the first season because there was no money to make the show.”
The current season takes place in Thailand and stars Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
The pay system has been implemented since the show’s first season in 2021, when the star-studded cast included Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario and Sydney Sweeney.
THR reported that the series regulars make around $40,000 an episode, which equals $320,000 for the entire eight-episode season.
Casting director Meredith Tucker confessed to the outlet that “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. Our series regulars are pretty much doing this for scale.”
“I think people love this show so much that they’re willing to audition,” Tucker noted.
Along with non-negotiable pay, there have also been creative differences between the show’s creator, Mike White and composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer.
During an interview with the New York Times, the Emmy winner shared he and the filmmaker, 54, had different ideas for the iconic “White Lotus” theme song.
Tapia de Veer said that despite using the same eerie music for season one and two, this year, White wanted more of “background music … a song that is more like something you would listen to in Ibiza, in some clubby place with a chill, sexy vibe.”
“I texted the producer and I told him that it would be great to, at some point, give them the longer version with the ooh-loo-loo-loos, because people will explode if they realize that it was going there anyway,” he expressed. “He thought it was a good idea. But then Mike cut that — he wasn’t happy about that.”
Tapia de Veer added, “I mean, at that point, we already had our last fight forever, I think. So he was just saying no to anything.”
HBO
“I announced to the team a few months ago that I was not coming back, that I was leaving,” he stated. “I didn’t tell Mike for various reasons; I wanted to tell him just at the end for the shock and whatever. Except I told the whole editorial team and music editor and producer and all that, but I didn’t think that they were going to tell him. At some point he heard about that.”
“The White Lotus” Season 3 finale airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO and Max.