Murder Revealed at The White Lotus: Season 3 Finale Shocker

Multiple guests have checked out of The White Lotus—permanently. Indeed, during the heartbreaking season 3 finale, Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and Rick (Walton Goggins) were the guests whose vacation ended in tragedy.

Rick had seemingly found peace, but his happiness was disrupted when the man he thought killed his father, Jim Hollinger, returned to the White Lotus. And when Rick shoots him in a fit of rage—only for Sritila to tell him Jim was Rick's father all along—Rick and Chelsea are both killed in the subsequent shootout.

Actress Charlotte Le Bon warned ahead of the finale, “People are going to hate Mike White.”

Creator and writer Mike White knew his finale may bring about mixed reactions. “My hope is that it’ll feel like a cathartic sad or a satisfying sad and not a ‘What the f--k?’ sad,” he said. “But people are going to have a million different opinions. You just hope you stick the landing.”

For White, even bringing to life the feature-length finale episode was a labor of love. “As a filmmaker, it’s probably the piece of work that I’m like, ‘I can’t believe I did that.’”

Parker Posey, who played Victoria Ratliff, confessed, “I forgot who died. It was so stressful when I read it. The dark stuff, I blazed through.” Plus, some cast and crew members were specifically left in the dark as to prevent spoilers—including Patrick Schwarzenegger, whose portrayal of Saxon Ratliff caused quite a stir throughout the season.

“I’m just excited to watch the finale with the rest of the world,” he admitted, “because I actually have no idea what happens.” As producer David Bernad explained, “This season, our script supervisor wrote these crazy fake endings that we distributed on set. We didn’t distribute the real last script. People on set didn’t know.”

Which means, some cast and crew also didn’t know about the fates of other beloved characters, whose fates were wrapped up in the finale.

The Ratliff family, tragedy almost strikes when Lochlan unwittingly serves himself a poisoned smoothie; however, he revives in his father's arms. The Southern family return home—their lives about to be forever changed due to Timothy’s professional and financial misdeeds.

The three friends—Laurie, Jaclyn, and Kate—ultimately forgive each other's jabs and leave the White Lotus closer than before, while Belinda leaves $5 million richer after she strikes a deal with Gary/Greg to keep silent over the mysterious circumstances of his wife’s death.