Aimee Lou Wood took a leap into the unknown by relocating to Thailand for a hefty seven months to shoot the latest season of The White Lotus. The star, known for her role in Sex Education, confessed that her usual jaunts don’t go beyond the UK’s West Country; nevertheless, the chance to join the cast of the popular dark comedy series was irresistible.
“I’m one of the least adventurous people in the world,” she revealed. “My adventures are to places like Cornwall and Glastonbury. But having this job means that I was pushed to leave my comfort zone, which is good for me.”
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Aimee said of the location: “It was so beautiful, beyond beautiful, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It was so hard to even process and fathom that it was real. I would wake up, open my curtains and see actual paradise. I’m so grateful because I probably never would have taken myself to Thailand, and I would have missed out on an experience that was so special. I’m so glad that I got this job and had this experience, because it forces me to explore more, and I need a bit of forcing.”
Aimee was a massive fan of the first two series of the show before she was cast as British holidaymaker Chelsea in the third season of The White Lotus. “I am an absolute super fan,” she chuckles. “I was always pondering where I could slot into the White Lotus world because I wanted to be part of it. Then came the audition for Chelsea, and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this might actually be my chance!’ But I was terrified, as I’d never auditioned for something I was already a fan of before. I did my audition, got a callback a few days later, and the day after that, I found out,” reports the Mirror.
“If it had stretched over a long amount of time, I would have gone mad. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life – I was out with my friends, I went to the loo, checked my phone and there was a message. I’d got the part. It was the best moment ever.”
In the latest series delving into the lives of the staff and guests at the White Lotus, Aimee takes centre stage as Chelsea, a young woman from Manchester who checks into the Thai resort with her older American boyfriend, Rick, portrayed by Fallout’s Walton Goggins. The other guests include a group of long-time friends on a girls’ trip (played by Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Monaghan) and a family headed by parents Timothy and Victoria (Jason Isaacs and Parker Posey).
(Image: Four Seasons)
The cast set up home at the Four Seasons hotel, which served as the White Lotus, living at the filming location for half of last year. And according to Aimee, it made for a peculiar experience.
“The negative, which also makes it so good I think, is the claustrophobic nature of living where you’re filming,” she shares. “There’s no separation. Usually when you’re filming away, you get in a car at the end and you go home to your own space, whereas that is not the case with The White Lotus. It’s seven months of living on a set. It feels exactly like The Truman Show.”
She goes on to explain that this unique setup, while challenging, aligns perfectly with show creator Mike White’s vision for the series. “Mike draws so much of his inspiration from reality TV and a lot of it leaks in. He loves that kind of documentary feel,” Aimee reveals. “I think it helps the show that everyone is in such close proximity and you can’t escape. It means you make the deepest connections.”
(Image: Sam Taylor/NETFLIX)
However, there are drawbacks. “The flip side of the coin is there is a bit of a loss of self,” she confesses. “At one point, I was having my hair done and the stylist asked halfway through, ‘Am I chatting to Aimee or Chelsea?’ and I said, ‘I don’t even know any more.’ You become a White Lotus guest – because you are living there – so the lines get so blurred. I didn’t even know who I was, I think I was saying some of my lines as myself, it was all getting so confused. But I think that is part of what makes the show so great, so it’s a positive and a negative at the same time.”
Aimee, 30, opened up about her role as Chelsea in the hit series, describing her as a “misfit” who doesn’t quite fit the mould of the usual White Lotus guest. She shared that shooting the iconic breakfast and dinner scenes with Walton Goggins was a highlight for her, but she also had a soft spot for a scene in the first episode where Chelsea befriends an intriguing woman at the hotel bar.
“That’s very me,” Aimee confessed. “I always have the dream that this holiday friendship will carry on forever. But that’s the thing with holiday friends, isn’t it? It’s there for a time, but when you try to carry it into the real world, it doesn’t work.”
She added, “I love the way Chelsea just sees this girl, and she’s like, ‘We’re gonna be mates.’ She is absolutely determined to make this cool girl her friend, and I love that about her.”
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