Warning: this article contains spoilers for The White Lotus season 3.Mike White’s acclaimed HBO seriesThe White Lotusrecently ended its third season, and the characters and their drama were better than ever.The White Lotusfollowed a group of vacationers to Thailand this season, with each group going down their own path toward self-growth or danger. ByThe White Lotus’s season 3 finale, many of the characters were on a collision course of their own making. While most of the characters made it out having learned about themselves, and Belinda and Zion made it out with the money,The White Lotus’s season 3 ending featured several heartbreaking deaths.
The White Lotus’s castis full of absolutely great performers, which, while great when watching the show, makes ranking the characters very difficult. All the different storylines and trouble that they get into are incredibly entertaining, but some do stick with audiences more than others. Likewise, while some characters are very frustrating and unlikable, they are great to watch. Thus, my ranking ofThe White Lotus’s characters is based on a combination of how likable the characters are, how entertaining their stories are, and the overall impact on the season.
16Zion Lindsey
He Is Just Too Neutral
Zion is certainly not the worst character in terms of likability, but, sadly, he is not one of the best characters inThe White Lotusseason 3 simply becausehe does not have as much screen time or impact. Zion arrives in Thailand several days after the other characters, which means that he misses out on some crucial development while the other characters have already started down their paths. He is only really important in his mother Belinda’s story, where he has some funny and entertaining moments, but audiences don’t really see much of him on his own.
15Gaitok
Gaitok Should Have Been Fired
This may be controversial, but Gaitok was the most difficult character to watch this season. His story was incredibly frustrating, as he essentially messed up everything he did at every turn.Gaitok had no business working as a security guard. While his relationship with Mook was cute at times, I could not truly enjoy any sort of bond that they had due to how annoying the majority of Gaitok’s scenes were. If he had been given any other role at the hotel, my opinion of him might be very different.
The situation with Timothy stealing the gun and Gaitok waiting so long to get it back was very difficult to watch.
While at first it just seems that he is unlucky to have been present for the robbery, it quickly becomes clear that the bad things that happen around Gaitok are thanks to his incompetence in his role. The situation with Timothy stealing the gun and Gaitok waiting so long to get it back was very difficult to watch. Gaitok’s beliefs encouraged him not to be violent, and he ultimately seems to realize that this makes him ineffective in his job.He then breaks his beliefs when presented with an advantageous outcome.
14Lochlan Ratliff
The Youngest Ratliff Is Very Frustrating
Lochlan is a very complex character, but because of that, he is often fairly frustrating to watch. Sam Nivola did a really great job of portraying just how confused Lochlan is about everything in his life.He is a teenager who has no idea what he wants, from where to go to college to his sexuality. There are moments when this approach feels very innocent and earnest, but there are also moments where he is difficult to watch.
Overall, Lochlan’s story was entertaining, butthe incest plot point takes his likability way down. Lochlan clearly feels some pressure from his brother to figure out how to be a sexual being, but that just comes to fruition in the worst way possible, leaving Saxon deeply uncomfortable with his brother’s actions. If it weren’t for that story, Lochlan would rank much higher, as he seems to have genuinely learned something after his near-death experience in the finale.
13Chloe
Chloe Has Some Good Scenes But Is Not As Impactful As Other Characters
Chloe is arguably the character that is involved in the most dramatic stories fromThe White Lotusseason 3, but she somehow manages to stay just outside the spotlight for the entire time. She is tied to the Ratliff brothers, she is friends with Chelsea, and she is dating Greg, or Gary as she knows him. Theoretically, these things should make her an important and interesting character, but sadly,she is just always overshadowed by the bigger things going on around her rather than truly playing a role in them.
12Saxon Ratliff
Saxon Actually Got Better As The Show Went On
Saxon Ratliff started out as by far the worst character at the beginning of the season, but he actually grew on me as the season progressed because he seemed to genuinely begin to change. He started the season as a misogynistic, sex- and money-obsessed boy, but after the harrowing experience with his brother, he changed a lot. Though he still attempted to flirt with Chelsea throughout the show, there were moments where he seemed to actually want to know what she had to say about spirituality and personal growth.
Saxon is still definitely not one of the better characters in this season ofThe White Lotus, but he wasn’t the most disappointing in the end either. Aside from some of his scenes with Chelsea, the scene where he confronts his dad and admits that he does not have a strong sense of identity outside of work felt very honest and emotional, and it would have been nice to see more of that Saxon.
11Rick Hatchett
InThe White Lotus’s season 3 ending, Rick is both a killer and a victim, but up until his final moments, I was always rooting for Rick to do better and find his peace. From the outset, Rick is pretty on edge, and there is a very clear sense of him fighting between the person that Chelsea believes him to be and the revenge-seeking man that he currently is. While this means that he is not the most likable all the time,it does make him a very compelling character.
Goggins brings Rick to life through moments where viewers can see Rick’s pain lurking just below the surface of his outward anger.
Walton Goggins is really great in the role. Goggins brings Rick to life through moments where viewers can see Rick’s pain lurking just below the surface of his outward anger. There is a point when it seems that Rick has finally decided to move on from his past, but just as quickly it all comes rushing back to him. The character and his journey were very interesting to watch, and given Rick’s sad ending in the finale, his was one of the most important storylines all season.
10Greg/Gary Hunt
I Hope Greg Sticks Around To Be A Menace At Other White Lotus Resorts
Three seasons into the ever-changing world ofThe White Lotus, Greg is the one constant. Tanya’s former husband and Chloe’s current boyfriend, Greg is still somewhat of a mystery despite always being around. He necessarily reinvented himself after his connection to Tanya’s death andseeing him again in season 3 in yet another context was equal parts funny and sinister. He is definitely meant to be a bad guy and is certainly threatening Belinda throughout the season, but everything about the character is just humorous.
His relationship with Chloe is a bit of a question throughout the season and their ending is both strange and funny. Likewise, the tension building with Belinda sees him cave and give her more money than he had planned. As much as I wish I did not care what happened to Greg, I kind of do now. Knowing that he survived the season means thatGreg could still come back in season 4either with Chloe or on his own. I’m invested in his story now because it would feel even weirder for him to disappear without a trace.
9Piper Ratliff
Piper Was Sweet But Sometimes Forgettable
Out of the Ratliffs, Piper was the most normal and most likable. For a lot of the season she was off doing her own thing at the monastery and seemed relatively content with changing her life. In comparison to the rest of her family, who were constantly in some sort of trouble,Piper often felt like the most forgettable Ratliff despite being the most wholesome, which is why she falls just in the middle ofThe White Lotus’s season 3 characters.
Though some audiences dislikedPiper’s desire not to stay in Thailandand admission of her materiality, her ending was actually perfect. Piper had a chance to set herself apart from her family, but at the end of the day she realized that she was more like her mother than she cared to admit which feels very in keeping with the usual tone of the show.
8Mook
Season 3 Needed More Of Mook
Mook is another character that felt a bit underutilized in season 3, but she was fun to watch nonetheless. Most of her stories revolved around her potential relationship with Gaitok, but she was clearly the more ambitious of the two.Mook is an incredibly sweet character, so it is hard not to love her. She supports and encourages Gaitok, but her numerous nudges to him about needing to be violent and competitive hint that there could have been a bit more to her character than audiences were fully introduced to.
7Kate Bohr
Kate Actually Ended Up Being The Least Dramatic Of The Three Girlfriends
The three girlfriends on their “victory tour” vacation was one of the best storylines this season. All three of the actresses played their characters so well off of each other thatthey felt totally believable as a group of gossipy women who also really love each other. The women were all fun to watch in their own way, but I do feel like Leslie Bibb’s Kate simply had the least time to shine.
The trio’s tension was set up almost immediately, with each of them differing from the other two on various problems. This was most clear with Kate in her political standings, which were more right-leaning than her two friends. Though this initially set her up to be the odd one out,Kate ended up being the peacekeeper in the later episodes. This was actually really sweet, but it also meant that while Laurie and Jaclyn were much more open about their disdain for the other’s choices, Kate did not get many of her own jabs in.
