Note: This story contains spoilers from “The White Lotus” Season 3, Episode 3.
Most fans of “The White Lotus” have been sitting on their anger at Jon Gries’ Greg for plotting the death of Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya since the Season 2 finale, but it took the actor heading to Thailand to film Season 3 to realize Greg was a “psychopath.”
“I somehow equivocated that Greg was remotely involved, but not as deeply involved. But definitely upon looking at Season 2 over again, I’m like, ‘Where did I ever come up with that idea?’” Gries told TheWrap. “For the rest of [Season 2], I was gone, so it wasn’t like it changed anything I was doing. In those first three episodes … I knew that they were pointing in that direction, but as we started Season 3, I was rewriting a lot of the history.”
After Gries arrived to Thailand about 10 days before his scenes were set to start filming — to get acclimated and work on his tan — he clarified his new take on Greg with creator Mike White.
“[Mike] was walking briskly to get to set … and I saw him, and I ran up to him, and I said, ‘Hey, Greg — psychopath or not?’ And he goes, ‘psychopath’ and walked away,” Gries recalled. “And I went right back into my room and spent the next four hours just writing the story and changing things, and it really gave me something to work with.”
Below, Gries reveals whether Greg ever truly loved Tanya and teases his character is “immediately planning something” after his recent confrontation with Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda.
TheWrap: When did you first learn you were coming back?
Gries: It was like a year and a half ago in September, he called me and we talked on the phone. He wanted to know that I would be committed all the way because it could be being away from home anywhere from four to six months. And I was like, “I’m there.”
What were those initial conversations with Mike like about Greg’s storyline this season?
That Greg’s doing quite well, and that he has a girlfriend and he’s moving on. Now, he wouldn’t tell me what is going to ultimately transpire, not quite yet, but once we agreed that everything was going to go forward, he sent me the scripts and I read what happens.
Do you think Greg ever genuinely loved Tanya?
I think in the beginning, he did. I think he thought, “This would be the great way to end my life, to be with someone that I really care about, and who, despite all her drama, is very endearing and very funny and sweet and amusing too.” I don’t know if he truly loved her, but I think he was amused by her.
I read the Ted Bundy book called “The Stranger Beside Me” and it was about the woman who was with him all the time while he was doing this, and somehow, someway, she avoided all that carnage. That’s a complete deranged psychopath. I’m not saying that Greg’s a serial killer, but Greg has a side to him that is detached. So he was, I think, amused by Tanya, and amused enough to really want to be with her for that time.
When did that shift happen in Greg to make him plot out Tanya’s death?
Between Season 1 and Season 2, there was a change, whether or not it was that he just couldn’t handle the drama anymore, or, some of the things I wrote was that once he realized that he wasn’t going to die directly from this episode that he was having, that maybe he was a little less philosophical about his life and a little more opportunistic.
How long has it been since Tanya died?
We talked about it as if it were in relatively real time, so like 15 months or something like that. Maybe it’s two years at most, but it’s just within that span of time.
What do you think about Jennifer Coolidge’s comments hoping Greg gets what’s coming for him? Have you been in touch with Jennifer about the new season?
We’re in touch quite a bit. We really have a lovely friendship. I didn’t speak to her specifically about that particular thing, but I find it to be so gracious, because she’s, even peripherally, helping the show along. She’s just a very gracious person … it’s really, really lovely.
In Episode 3, we see Belinda confront Greg and he immediately denies it’s him. Does this do much to rattle him in the moment?
Immediately he’s planning something, whatever it is. She doesn’t walk away. He’s not sitting there looking at her, going, “Hmm.” He’s thinking, “this might impede my life plans, so I might have to figure out something to do.”
What does it feel like to be the one constant of the first three seasons of “The White Lotus”?
It’s incredible. I’m living my greatest fantasy. I’m working with an amazing assortment of incredibly talented people, working with probably the most compelling director I’ve ever worked with without question — I mean far and above. I hate to make anybody feel less, but if they knew him and they saw him in action, they would agree, it’s very special. I sometimes literally go, “I can’t believe this is happening, because it’s incredible.” I’m awestruck by it.
What can you tease for the rest of the season?
For those of you, and hopefully many of you who watched Episode 3, I mean, that’s a masterpiece. I even had to write Mike after watching it, saying “I didn’t see this up front. I didn’t see this ahead of time. I’m watching it in real time. It’s just perfect.” Tempo, feel, look, sound, relationships, performances — incredible, all across the board. If that’s only Episode 3, we got quite a ride ahead of us.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
“The White Lotus” airs Sundays on HBO and Max.
