“The White Lotus” stars Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb react to that Trump conversation in episode 3

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus season 3, episode 3, "The Meaning of Dreams."

The White Lotus stars Leslie Bibb and Carrie Coon think creator Mike White can see into the future. What other explanation is there for their character's awkward, hilarious, and surprisingly timely Trump conversation in Sunday's episode?

Near the end of this week's episode, "The Meaning of Dreams," the trio of childhood friends Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Bibb), and Laurie (Coon) had another conversation filled with a minefield of off-limits topics. While discussing Kate's increased interest in religion during dinner, Jaclyn and Laurie wondered if she felt weird going to church surrounded by Texans who voted for Trump. Kate simply responded, "They're nice people. Really good families." Then Laurie asked if it was awkward when she talked politics with them, and Kate's response of, "Why would it?" set off alarm bells for her lifelong friends. "Wait, are you...a Republican?" a shocked Laurie asked. "You didn't vote for Trump though, did you?"

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Kate's silent smile was all the answer they needed. "Are we really going to talk about Trump tonight?" she asked after a long pause. They all quickly changed the subject with tense, fake smiles, and later that night, Kate saw Jaclyn and Laurie laughing and talking without her — and about her. It was a direct callback to Jaclyn and Kate gossiping late into the night about Laurie in an earlier episode, only now, the roles were reversed.

Episode 3's Trump conversation feels incredibly prescient now, obviously, as he's currently president of the United States and rolling out seemingly endless executive orders against transgender people, immigration, diversity and inclusion, and more. But The White Lotus season 3 was shot a year ago, before Trump's re-election seemed likely, so it didn't feel as relevant to the actors at the time when they filmed it.

"I feel like Mike had binoculars into the future because when we did it, it just didn't feel [timely anymore]," Bibb tells Entertainment Weekly. "I was like, 'We already did that. That was in the past.' I don't even think Trump was running when we did it — it was in January or February of last year or something, so yeah, that was pretty wild. But he's like a little soothsayer, that Mike White. It feels like we've hit a nerve. We're in the zeitgeist, as they say. We've done something current, if you will."

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The actors didn't spend a lot of time discussing the dinner scene, particularly the references to Trump, with each other during filming. Especially since, at the time, it didn't feel as relevant as it does now. "We didn't really talk about it," notes Coon. "Mike's stuff is always on the page. You also know that he's not going to let you leave until he gets what he needs out of you, and so that's always a comforting feeling."

Bibb and Coon know that with their characters, there's even more unsaid than what is actually being said. Jaclyn and Laurie's shock and disbelief that their childhood friend Kate became religious and voted for Trump comes through in just their reactions, rather than the dialogue, and that's why they rely so heavily on creator/writer/director White to get every scene right.

"You remember when we shot the first scene in the villa, and we had a four- or five-page scene of us coming in, and we blew through the text? It felt not important," Bibb says to Coon. "And I remember he said, 'Can you guys slow down?' Which you never hear in television. And I just remember being like, 'Oh yeah, that's the show.' He's so interested in the pauses and what's not said in between the lines. It's more interesting to him what's not being said than actually said."

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"Yeah," Coon agrees. "And it's so much reaction that he captures. What I love about Mike is that what he's doing is really Greek and really transgressive. And then he has this super relatable story about these women that I think everybody can understand — they've all had relationships that have changed as they got older, that didn't last, or had to get reshaped. And I think what you feel happens to these women at the end says more about you than it does about whatever we're doing in there."

While the stars can't reveal what happens to this trio of former best friends who are now walking on eggshells around each other, Bibb teases a big moment coming for Coon. "Wait 'til you get to this one's monologue," she says, nudging Coon. "It's so good. I'm going to cry."

The White Lotus season 3 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.

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