This story includes spoilers for season three, episode eight of The White Lotus.
Since Sunday’s season finale of The White Lotus, fans have been mourning the loss of Chelsea and Rick, the dysfunctional yet lovable characters portrayed by Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins. Apparently, they’re also fixating on the real-life relationship between the two actors — and according to Reddit sleuths, something’s up.
The deep dive into Goggins and Wood’s alleged feud appears to have stemmed from social media. Someone noticed they unfollowed each other on Instagram “weeks ago,” although there’s no hard evidence saying that’s true. There’s also speculation that Goggins — who is married — blocked Wood because her comments have disappeared from his posts, although his are still visible on her profile. The duo also both posted tributes to their deceased characters to the Fleetwood Mac song “Silver Springs,” which is notoriously about a tumultuous breakup, without tagging one another. Suspicious…
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More insight into what happened on set came in an interview with GQ in which Wood said that playing the relentlessly optimistic Chelsea drained her by the end of each day. “I had a slow and steady disintegration of my sanity,” she said, adding that Goggins experienced the opposite. This could have caused them to butt heads, sure, but I doubt it. Goggins also previously talked about the two becoming “enmeshed” in each other just like their characters, but that doesn’t appear to point to any signs of animosity.
Jason Isaacs, who played a rich and troubled Timothy Ratliff and has continuously stirred the pot throughout the season’s press cycle, all but confirmed there was at least some drama on set. “There were friendships that were made and friendships that were lost,” he told Vulture. “They say in the show, ‘What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand,’ but there’s an off-screen White Lotus as well, with fewer deaths but just as much drama.” Sounds ominous. This could be about Wood and Goggins, but it could also be about Mike White and composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, who have been publicly feuding this week. With a cast this big, we’ll likely never know. That is, unless Isaacs decides to open his mouth again.
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While Wood and Goggins haven’t done any press together, they’ve only had positive things to say about the other. Wood said she was “sad that Walton wasn’t there” at the season finale watch party while Goggins has said he loves and adores her and mentioned her in his farewell Instagram post, writing, “Thank you Aimee Lou for being my partner… a journey I will never forget.” They sound quite alright to me! Feud or not, at least we’ll always have Rick and Chelsea.
