In its two seasons, the anthology collection has starred a rotating stellar solid that features the likes of Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Sydney Sweeney, Lukas Gage, Aubrey Plaza — and Haley Lu Richardson.
In the second season, Haley performs a personality named Portia, a privileged Gen Z’er, who initially spends time complaining about her life’s function whereas on trip in picturesque Italy, working as a private assistant to Jennifer Coolidge’s character, Tanya.
Portia will get sucked right into a sinister and underlying felony world of the wealthy — a world stuffed with conniving “old money” grifters. She is then manipulated, kidnapped, dumped by her love curiosity, and despatched again to the States, after which she stays largely unbothered and unchanged, due to, sure, her privilege.
On Variety’s Just for Variety podcast, Haley spoke up in regards to the “insufferable” character she performed on the present and the way she had been dubbed because the present’s “villain” throughout social media.
“I just hadn’t been in that situation before, so I did get sad,” Haley said of the experience working on a show as visible as The White Lotus. “There was probably the first couple of episodes where I was seeing some things and reactions to things with Portia and me that I was taking personally or I wasn’t fully sure how to take it or how to process it.”
“The one factor that I believed was truly sort of unfair and warped was the individuals who had been saying that she was terrible or she was the actual villain of the season,” shared Haley.
“There’s no way that you can look at that young woman and be like, ‘She is the most awful one on this show.’ People who think that should go to therapy,” she stated.
“The whole point of the show is to get people talking,” Haley added on Collider’s Ladies Night. “She’s a fictional character, and all these people are having opinions.” She continued, “But I really [wished] I had a Twitter so I could be a part of these conversations. Like, there were so many Tweets where I was like, ‘Oh my god,’ I just want to freaking respond!”
I gotta say, there have been means worse villains within the season for Portia to be labeled the primary villain. 🤷♀️
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