Over the past few years, The White Lotus has become one of the most revered shows on television – in the eyes of fans and critics alike. Each season brings a fresh batch of a world-class ensemble cast, all of whom bring not only tremendous acting skills – but also years of invaluable experience.
What truly makes the show ‘rich’, is it’s insane locations and sets, which are often location in some of the most expensive vacation destinations in the world.
Season 1 took us to Hawaii, Season 2 to Sicily, and the most recent Season 3 to Thailand. All offering a unique definition of ‘luxury’ albeit, all were set in The White Lotus.
Everyone’s Treated As Equal In The White Lotus
As much as the show is about luxury, it hasn’t always been a big-budget production.
To make sure the luxury on screen is truly sensational and to maintain the integrity and quality of the show, the salaries of the cast members had to be kept low.
That’s not all! Another interesting part of this is how every actor, regardless of how much experience or how many movies they had in their resume, were paid the exact same amount.
So even though Jason Isaacs may have been a part of Harry Potter at one point, he’d still get paid as much as the debuting actress and K-Pop sensation Lisa, or Walton Goggins, who’s a different level of legendary altogether.
Is the payout as luxurious as the series? Jason Isaacs reveals the truth
This payment system we just talked about was developed almost as a sort of code of respect and honour during season 1, and became a tradition going forward.
When he sat down with Vulture recently, Jason Isaacs confirmed the rumours and revealed that he and the rest of the cast were indeed all paid $40,000 for each episode of Season 3. That makes up for $320,000 for the entire 8 episode season.
While many may consider this impressive, Jason himself admitted that this amount is quite tiny compared to other big series have to offer.
For context, actors in shows like The Sopranos, Friends, Seinfeld and The Big Bang Theory were all paid $1 Million per episode. That’s 3 times more for one episode than The White Lotus stars made in the entire season.
The Value Lies In Being Part of The White Lotus Experience
The actor who plays Timothy Ratliff in the 3rd season said it out loud himself ‘The fact is we would have paid to be in it. We would have given a body part.’
And this in itself, is a clear insight on just how enriching the experience of working with the show’s creator Mike White on this absurd, elite yet tremendously entertaining creation really is.
It truly pushes the boundaries of any and all actors. This in turn also pushes the viewing experience into an absurd territory.
The show hits viewers head-on with all of its sarcasm, stoicism, symbolism, social commentary, tone deaf-ism.. the list just goes on. It never shies away from taboo themes either.
The Final Verdict
No matter what the cast bank accounts look like after they’re done with the show, the ratings and viewership of The White Lotus indicate nothing but widespread success. Each actor is showered with love by critics, fans, and viewers alike—which is, in our opinion, the highest honor an actor could receive—not a compensation.
If you ask us, we’d say that The White Lotus watching experience is probably going to be even better knowing that the actors in the show are in it for the love of the game and not just a paycheck.