Mike White Had To Fight To Cast 'The Ugly Girl' in This Season of 'White Lotus'

There has been a huge amount of post-finale press for White Lotus, which has provided some interesting revelations. For instance, according to Mike White, Woody Harrelson was never up for the role of Walton Goggins’ Rick (as The Hollywood Reporter claimed), but rather that of Frank, the role that ultimately went to Sam Rockwell. THR, however, was correct about the scheduling conflict. White said he had a “very White Lotus bougie” pre-planned “destination birthday somewhere in Europe,” for which all of his friends had already purchased tickets, so it was no longer “feasible” for Harrelson to take the role—though it only required two weeks of work. (Rockwell was a more-than-capable substitute.)

On Howard Stern, Mike White also called out the composer, Cristóbal Tapia de Veer—not necessarily for quitting, but for how he did it: “I was thrown that he would go to The New York Times to shit on me and the show three days before the finale. It was kind of a bitch move.” White’s frankness will come as no surprise to anyone who watched his season of Survivor.

However, a somewhat disconcerting revelation is that Mike White basically had to beg HBO to allow him to cast Aimee Lou Wood, the breakout star of the season. Per GQ Hype (via Vulture), HBO was not keen on the Sex Education star. “Someone told me how much Mike had fought for me,” she said. “They said, ‘It had to be you, no matter what HBO said.’”

“It was honestly from the nicest place, but my little head goes: ‘HBO didn’t want me.’ And I know why HBO didn’t want me—it’s because I’m ugly. Mike had to say, ‘Please let me have the ugly girl!’”

There has been a lot of discourse over Aimee Lou Wood’s non-traditional looks (and her teeth), but obviously, she is the furthest thing in the world from “ugly.” She was brilliant in all four seasons of Sex Education, fantastic in last month’s Toxic Town, and finally got the recognition she absolutely deserves in White Lotus—where she was also thankful she wasn’t as exposed, sex-scene-wise, as she was in Sex Education.