Conan O’Brien is gunning for an opportunity to check himself into The White Lotus resort.
On this week’s episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, the comedian chatted with Walton Goggins—who is set to star in Season 3 of The White Lotus—and revealed to the actor that he had actually pitched himself for the HBO series.
“Before you guys started shooting White Lotus, I ran into none other than [series creator] Mike White in a restaurant,” O’Brien told Goggins. “I said, ‘Hey, so the next season of White Lotus, you’re going down to Thailand, right?’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘I was there. I had a great time. I made a lot of friends.’ And then I said, ‘If there’s a part for me, I’m available.’”
O’Brien was seemingly willing to do whatever it took to get onto the Emmy-winning show—even if it required thinking outside the box. “[White] looked at [me] and he said, ‘You know, there’s a lot of sex work there,’” O’Brien continued. “And I said, ‘I could do that. I could play a part where I’m a male gigolo or something.’”
While Goggins was clearly shocked by the revelation at first, he eventually got on board with the unorthodox idea. “I think you could play that part and you could be [a gigolo] in real life,” he jokingly told O’Brien.
Season 3 of The White Lotus is slated to premiere sometime in 2025. Aside from Goggins, the cast includes Carrie Coon, Parker Posey, Leslie Bibb, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Dom Hetrakul, Tayme Thapthimthong, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood, Nicholas Duvernay, Francesca Corney, Arnas Fedaravičius, and Blackpink member Lisa. Natasha Rothwell will also reprise her role as Belinda from Season 1.
O’Brien may not have made the cut this time around, but perhaps he and White will revisit their conversation for any future White Lotus seasons. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time that he made a memorable cameo.
