Note: the following contains spoilers up to “The White Lotus” Season 2 Episode 7.
Although Mia initially began her journey in “The White Lotus” Season 2 with a romantic naïveté, by the finale, the tables have turned as Mia, sexually empowered, seduces Valentina and lands a full-time job as the luxury hotel’s pianist — a moment that actress Beatrice Grannò says creator Mike White never wanted to be explicitly sexual.
Grannò sat down with TheWrap to break down that twist ending, and reveals if Mia was involved in that scheme with Lucia and Alessio the whole time.
TheWrap: What does Mia think of Lucia’s scheme with Alessio? Was Mia in on the scheme with Alessio from the get-go?
Beatrice Grannò: She knew [about] that. She probably did that before. I think she uses Alessio for a lot of her games, because you see at the end, Alessio is our friend. I felt really sorry for Albie at the end. It’s just heartbreaking, Albie needed that.
Would she ever help out in another scheme?
They’re best friends, so they will always be there for each other no matter what. When you’re friends with someone you always say, “Yeah, let’s do it,” even if it’s wrong.
What was your reaction when you first read that Valentina gives Mia the job as pianist?
I was so happy for Mia … but also at the same time I thought, is that it for her? Is she gonna perform on a bigger stage? Maybe yes, but maybe that’s the first step. I think for a real musician who loves music, the best dream is just making money doing what you love. So for her, for a musician to be able to get paid for singing, it’s already a big step.
Mia shifts from being somewhat naive to using her power and sexuality to get what she wants. Does this empowerment come from Lucia mainly? What is it that shifts within her?
I find it quite fascinating, the fact that Lucia and Mia both affect each other, they pass each other the energy. At the beginning, Mia is a romantic one, she’s much more blocked with everything she kind of wants to stay with love. While at the same time, Lucia is much more free in that sense. But there’s a moment where they can meet and there’s a moment of vulnerability coming from Lucia, who says, “now everybody hates me,” and she uses Mia’s energy of being romantic to get what she wants, like falling in love with Albie. And at the same time, I take Lucia’s energy to use my charm to get what I want.
Talking about the scene with Valentina, Mike never really wanted her to be sexual. He never really wanted Mia to kind of seduce her in a sexy way. He wanted her to be much more sweet and kind, and he wanted it to be more of an exchange. I’m a friend, and I’m helping you, and you help me, and I can give you what you what you’re missing, and I can help you. But at the same time, you can give me back what I’m missing.
I remember when I was doing the audition with Mike White, one of the scenes that he wanted to see was this one with Valentina and I remember asking him before starting the scene, “Is she manipulating her? Is this a kind of a sexy thing where she manipulates her?” And he says, “No, I mean, it’s a little bit of both, like she is, but at the same time she cares,” she really wants to do something nice for her and that’s very Italian.
Now there’s this very Italian thing — it’s very sad, but at the same time, I think it’s good for this moment. When you know you need to kill an animal, like to eat it, before you kill it, you give him the best time — you cuddle, you make it good.
I think that’s what they did with with Jennifer Coolidge: they gave her the time of her life, they give her the time that she wanted. It’s very Italian thing, if I am the owner of a restaurant, and you are my client, I want you to come back, so you are my best friend, I give you free wine. But then you need to come back. So it’s like, I get what I want, but in the meantime, I give you the best time.
How do you imagine a night out with Mia, Lucia and Valentina when they try to find her “a real lesbian lover?”
I love that moment because she’s like, “We’re not not gonna be girlfriends now. What happened to us last night, it was for you to understand that you can have that and you should have fun. You should actually go out with a girl who likes women.”
How I imagine it, I don’t know, it’s just really fun, just drinking … I think that anyone who spends time with Mia and Lucia definitely have a great time.
I think it’s very sweet that we start off as hating each other — Valentina hates Lucia and Mia — also because maybe she’s jealous of the fact that we’re so free and she’s not. But then once she unblocks herself, then she’s ready to embrace that life.
We go from seeing Mia somewhat disillusioned with men holding power as she tries to pursue her dream of singing to having a very empowered group of women holding the power now. Does this give Mia more hope?
Yes, of course. What I really love about Lucia and Mia is that to me, they are there for a reason. They maybe don’t even exist in real life; they’re kind of two magical fairies or witches who are put there to break the equilibrium of older relationships. They remind me of two marbles being thrown in the hotel — they break everything apart — but by doing that, they unmask all the problems.
So all the problems are out, Lucia having sex with Michael Imperioli’s character, and then having the night with Cameron and Ethan makes Harper [have doubts] about the relationship with Ethan, but they needed that danger to be built back up. And if Albie didn’t ask his dad for the money for Lucia, then he wouldn’t have tried to fix the relationship with [his mother]. They [made] a mess, but there was a reason, and that mess was needed to fix everything.
So I feel like after this, Mia and Lucia, they know they have this power. Maybe they’ll go somewhere else and fix somebody else’s life, or maybe they just enjoy themselves. I can see Lucia becoming a fashion icon and Mia becoming a very famous singer.
How do you imagine the next couple months and even years look like for Mia?
I hope that she will play at the White Lotus, and then one night, maybe a music producer will be having dinner at the White Lotus and then maybe she will get signed by a music label or something. I could imagine her singing on a big stage.
What’s next for you? Are there any projects you’d like to get involved with?
I definitely hope that I will be able to work more as an international actress, also to act in English. I lived in London for four years and I did drama school there. So English was the language I learned to act with.
I hope that I will be involved in a musical project. I think my main dream right now is to be able to release my album, because it’s really hard to be an actress and musician. You don’t always have the time to focus on both things. But I really believe that right now I will have more time and more space to do that.
“The White Lotus” is now streaming in its entirety on HBO Max.