Landing a role in season three of The White Lotus still feels surreal for Walton Goggins.
The actor recently opened up to the Los Angeles Times about the ups and downs throughout his acting career, as well as the moment he learned he got the role in Mike White’s Emmy-winning HBO series.
“They said, ‘Before we do anything, we have to tell you something,” Goggins recalled of a conversation with his agents. “You just got an offer for The White Lotus, and it’s a very good role.’ I said, ‘Could you say that again?’ They said, ‘Mike wants you.’”
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He continued, “I said, ‘Could you excuse me a minute?’ I walked outside and I start bawling. Crying uncontrollably. I called my wife (Nadia Conners), shaking, and she said, ‘I f*cking knew it!’ When we were watching it one time, she had said, ‘Why don’t you do The White Lotus? You’d be perfect for it.’”
While it’s a moment the Fallout star will always cherish, he also still remembers his career struggles nearly two decades ago.
“I was talking to my agent and asked him, ‘Why is it so hard?’” Goggins recalled of the discussion. “And he said, ‘It isn’t hard, Walton. You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. There is no one job, no silver bullet for your career. It is the sum total…the aggregation of your body of work that will give you what you’re looking for. Just keep your head down, go to work and keep doing what you’re doing.’ This piece of advice changed my life.”
And that’s exactly what the Emmy-nominated actor did, scoring dozens of roles in TV shows and movies in the years that followed. However, it’s the success of his most recent project for which he’s feeling extra “grateful.”
“No one imagined it would be on this scale,” he said of his hit series Fallout. “That is gratifying and extremely humbling. People have shown up and responded to the work of 500 people that pulled this thing together.”
Now, he’s taking on his latest endeavor: The White Lotus. The third season, which also stars Jason Isaacs, Carrie Coon, Scott Glenn, Michelle Monaghan and Natasha Rothwell, is currently filming at a resort in Thailand.
“It’s all very meta on every level,” Goggins said of filming. “We’re guests checking into a hotel playing guests checking into a hotel. We spend all this time together, whether we like it or not, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. We work where we stay.”
The Justified actor added that working in Thailand is also somewhat of a triumphant homecoming after visiting the area 18 years prior due to a personal tragedy.
“I went to a lot of the places where we’re filming now, the same streets and sandy beaches,” he said. “I have come so far in my life and been healed on a number of levels. I am so grateful for this moment and the path I’ve been walking.”
