Jason Isaacs Compares ‘White Lotus’ Filming to an ‘Open Prison Camp’: ‘Tensions and Difficulties’

Jason Isaacs is getting candid about what it was really like filming The White Lotus season 3.

“It was a theatre camp, but to some extent an open prison camp: you couldn’t avoid one other,” the Harry Potter star, 61, said in a February interview with The Guardian.

The primary filming location for The White Lotus season 3 was The Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui in Thailand, which also served as the living quarters for the cast, crew, their families and series creator Mike White. Unfortunately, according to Jason — who played Ratliff patriarch Timothy Ratliff in the anthology series — not everyone got along during the six-month-long shoot.

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“There are tensions and difficulties, I don’t know if they spilled from on screen to off-screen, or if it would have happened anyway,” he said. “There were alliances that formed and broke, romances that formed and broke, friendships that formed and broke. It’s a long period of time for people to be away from their family with an open bar and all the wildness being in Thailand allows.”

This season of The White Lotus also starred Patrick Schwarzenegger, Parker Posey, Sam Nivola, Sarah Catherine Hook, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood. Additionally, Natasha Rothwell and Jon Gries reprised their roles from past seasons.

Jason admitted that he found himself caught up in drama with some castmates from time to time.

“I can’t pretend I wasn’t involved in some off-screen drama. Dave [Bernad] has seen it before, twice, and so has Mike. I can’t speak for them, but I imagine they think it feeds into the on-screen drama, and they might well be right,” the OA actor continued. “I think the heat contributed to these fissures appearing.”

He added, “I was in some ways used to it, but within a couple of weeks my wife [actress Emma Hewitt] went, ‘Some of these people are f–king mad.’ I said, ‘No, it’s just a bunch of actors away on location, love. You’ve forgotten what it’s like.’”

Jason has been fairly outspoken about the drama on set amid the release of The White Lotus season 3, which concluded with the finale on Sunday, April 6. He echoed his comments about alliances being made and broken in a March 30 interview with Vulture.

“Some people got very close. There were friendships that were made and friendships that were lost,” the Liverpool, England, native explained. “They say in the show, ‘What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand,’ but there’s an offscreen White Lotus as well, with fewer deaths but just as much drama. It was like a cross between summer camp and Lord of the Flies but in a gilded cage.”

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Jason admitted that he was “closer” to some castmates than others.

“I became very close to some people and less close to others, but we still all had that experience together and there’s a certain level of discretion required,” he continued, later adding, “Does the fact that I spent a lot of time particularly with Patrick, Sarah Catherine and Sam, and became very close to them, make any difference? I don’t know. I’ve played opposite people I barely knew, and we looked like we absolutely loved each other. I’ve played with people I know very well, and the relationships don’t work. I can talk about the dynamic but whether it bled into the work or not, I have no idea.”

Patrick, 31, Sarah Catherine, 29, and Sam, 21, played Timothy’s children in The White Lotus season 3. The on-screen family appears to still be close, as they all reunited in New York City for St. Patrick’s Day.

“The Ratliffs hit NY looking for a quiet bar on Paddy’s Day. Duh,” Jason captioned a selfie with the hashtag, “Reunited and it feels so good.”