Patrick Schwarzenegger's The White Lotus Role Continues His Big Career Trend & Hints At A Big Twist
WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for The White Lotus season 3, episode 1.
Patrick Schwarzenegger's role as Saxon Ratliff in The White Lotusseason 3 continues his streak of playing a particular type of character in various television series. In The White Lotus season 3 premiere, Saxon is a red flag machine, exuding everything from entitlement and white privilege to failed serial dating tactics and a bizarrely creepy incestuous vibe with his two siblings. There's no question that Schwarzenegger's character was designed by creator Mike White to attract attention for all the wrong reasons.
As a satirical comedy-thriller hybrid, The White Lotus has historically done a great job of encapsulating the toxic and systemic issues of class, race, and wealth. While The White Lotus season 2 swam in the murky waters of betrayal and adultery, season 3 takes aim at a group of dispirited individuals in one of the most spiritual places on Earth. Many of The White Lotus season 3 characters, such as Schwarzenegger's Saxon Ratliff, are rooted in fraudulent appearances and shady motives, forcing them to perform within their dysfunctional dynamics.
Patrick Schwarzenegger's The White Lotus Season 3 Role Is Very Familiar
Schwarzenegger Has Played Several Brash & Cocky TV Characters Before
Schwarzenegger has proved himself very good at playing quite brash, cocky, confident, jock-type guys, who can be somewhat unlikable. Some good examples of this are his roles as Golden Boy in Gen V and Mitchell in Moxie. His White Lotus character Saxon very much fits with this archetype. Even though there was more to the story of his Golden Boy character in Gen V, he initially displayed these types of cocky and brash elements that can make him quite polarizing, just like Saxon.
Schwarzenegger, the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, has also had more likable and relatable roles in film and television. He recently portrayed a religion-fueled Tim Tebow in American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez, the hard-hitting soldier Donny Mitchell in The Terminal List, and the warm-hearted romantic Charlie Reed in Midnight Sun.
Parker Posey, who is in The White Lotus season 3, worked with Schwarzenegger on The Staircase.
Schwarzenegger also portrayed the real-life Todd Peterson in The Staircase, the son of crime novelist Michael Peterson who is accused of killing his wife. Parker Posey, who is in The White Lotus season 3, worked with Schwarzenegger on The Staircase.
The White Lotus May Be Setting Up A Twist With Schwarzenegger's Saxon
Saxon's Strangeness Steals The Show In Episode 1 & Sets Up A Potential Shocker
After one episode of The White Lotus season 3, Schwarzenegger's Saxton is completely awful, predatory, and self-absorbed with seemingly no redeeming qualities. He's certainly not the only one delivering weirdness from the Ratliff family, so there are probably a few good developmental reasons why he became a living embodiment of "the ick."
Hopefully, there will be more to Saxton's character in The White Lotus than him just being an absolute exhibition of arrogance.
Saxton could end up taking on a different and surprising role in future episodes of The White Lotus, such as being the murder victim that was shown in the opening sequence or doing something that helps his little brother out. Hopefully, there will be more to Saxton's character in The White Lotus than him just being an absolute exhibition of arrogance.
The White Lotus
- Release Date
- July 11, 2021
- Network
- HBO
- Showrunner
- Mike White
- Directors
- Mike White
- Writers
- Mike White
Cast
Jon GriesGreg Hunt
Natasha RothwellBelinda Lindsey
- Creator(s)
- Mike White
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