Note: This story contains spoilers from “The White Lotus” Season 3, Episode 2.
“The White Lotus” Season 3 managed to sneakily include a beloved actor into the mix on the sly.
The second episode of the HBO hit series included a phone conversation between Tim Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) and a former co-worker Kenny — someone who Tim denied having heard from in four years to a reporter in the premiere.
Kenny and Tim are into some shady stuff regarding their Sho-Kel fund and the government of Brunei. Tim’s call with Kenny featured the voice of an actor many fans hoped would appear in the show at some point after he blew back onto the acting scene in the 2020s.
Here’s more on the re-emerged Oscar winner who the show got to voice Kenny.
Who Voices Kenny?
Kenny is voiced by none other than Ke Huy Quan. You hear mention of Kenny in the Season 3 premiere, when a Wall Street Journal reporter reaches out to Tim for comment on his old employee, though Tim says they haven’t spoke in around four years — clearly a lie. When he hangs up on the reporter to avoid answering more questions, he quickly calls and leaves Kenny a voicemail demanding an explanation.
Episode 2 features a second phone call Tim sneaks away for and this time it’s with Kenny — voiced by a nervous Quan. The actor was a long-rumored fan favorite to appear in Season 3, and this is a fun way to include him in the mix. It’s unclear if Kenny — and Quan — will appear in person later in the season, but at least fans got a bit of their fan casting answered.
The show has been known to surprise fans with big-name cameos via phone call. Season 2 featured Laura Dern, who previously starred in Mike White’s HBO comedy “Enlightened,” in a phone call as Abby, the estranged wife of Michael Imperioli’s Dominic Di Grasso.
What is going on with Kenny and Tim?
Tim calls Kenny in Episode 2 to ask why the Wall Street Journal is calling for comment on some of the dealings his Sho-Kel fun has been making with the Brunei government. Kenny says he couldn’t care less about the Journal because his office was just raided by a number of officers.
Tim becomes noticeably upset because Kenny “swore this could not happen.” Kenny informs Tim that there was a whistleblower in the office who pointed journalists at what they were doing — which also put the FBI on their trail. Tim asks what the feds know and Kenny drops the bomb that they have everything on them — accounts, emails, documents, whatever they were doing the FBI now has.
Tim asks Kenny if he’s also implicated in the FBI investigation. Kenny says that he is “for sure” being investigated as well now and suggests Tim lawyer up yesterday.
Tim lays into his former co-worker and blames him for getting wrapped up in a money laundering scheme where he only made $10 million. He then tells Kenny he’ll kill him if he gets pulled deeper into the scandal. Kenny helpfully admits he’s probably going to kill himself.
Who is Ke Huy Quan?
Ke Huy Quan shot back into the limelight as an adult starring in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” back in 2022, for which he won the best supporting actor Oscars, back in 2022 but has been acting since he was a child. His most memorable roles as a kid were as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and Data in “The Goonies.”
Most recently he starred as the leading man in the romantic action movie “Love Hurts.”
“The White Lotus” airs Sundays on HBO and Max.
