‘The White Lotus’ Actress Reveals Deleted Scene Featuring Non-Binary Child

Actress Carrie Coon has spilled some intriguing behind-the-scenes tea about HBO's hit show "The White Lotus." Coon revealed that her character, Laurie, was originally supposed to have a non-binary child—a detail cut from the final version of the show. In a deleted scene written before Donald Trump won the 2024 election, Laurie was set to grapple with understanding her child's identity and pronouns. "You originally found out that her daughter was actually nonbinary, maybe trans, and going by they/them," Coon explained in an interview with Harper's Bazaar. "You see Laurie struggling to explain it to her friends, struggling to use they/them pronouns, struggling with the language, which was all interesting," she added.

This revelation adds another layer to the show's portrayal of clashing identities and political leanings, especially given that Laurie's friend Kate, played by Leslie Bibb, disclosed her support for Trump in a buzzworthy scene from season three. That admission, coming from someone living in Austin—a liberal hotspot in the deep-red state of Texas—sparked heated conversations between Kate and her liberal friends, Laurie and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan).

According to Coon, the deleted scene would have intensified the political and personal stakes, especially for Laurie. "It was only a short scene, but for me, it did make the question of whether Kate voted for Trump so much more provocative and personally offensive to Laurie, considering who her child is in the world," she said. And honestly, who wouldn’t find that emotionally loaded?

However, the non-binary storyline ended up on the cutting room floor. Mike White, the show’s creator, made the call to exclude it, citing its delicate nature and the broader cultural context. "Considering the way the Trump administration has weaponized the cultural war against transgender people even more since then, when the time came to cut the episode down, Mike felt that the scene was so small and the topic so big that it wasn’t the right way to engage in that conversation," Coon explained.

The timing of the show’s production—during Trump’s re-election campaign—adds another layer of complexity to this decision. While Laurie’s story arc remains compelling, one can’t help but wonder what the inclusion of the non-binary subplot might have added to the intricate web of relationships and political ideologies explored in "The White Lotus." Kudos to the show for consistently tackling thorny issues, but it seems like this storyline might’ve been a missed opportunity for some truly thought-provoking drama.