Jennifer Coolidge Wants Tanya’s Husband to Die in a Meat-Grinder in ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3
Warning: This article contains spoilers for season 2 of The White Lotus.
HBO’s The White Lotus series has clearly had cultural impact. It has won 10 Emmys among its 20 nominations. Actors on the series have gone on to land other gigs. It has been parodied by Saturday Night Live, and memed relentlessly.
However, arguably the biggest thing to come from the series, which plumbs the bad behavior of well-to-do travelers, may be the reemergence of Jennifer Coolidge. The actress, who played Stifler’s Mom in the 1999 pop cultural hit American Pie, has experienced a comeback that The Atlantic called one of the best feel-good Hollywood narratives in recent years.
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However, Coolidge won’t be coming back to the role that escalated her profile. The lovable, self-involved Tanya died at the conclusion of the second season of the series when she slipped and fell off a yacht. Tanya’s husband Greg (played by Jon Gries) is, as far as we know, still alive in the series after trying to kill her in order to inherit her wealth.
During a chat with The Bear star Jeremy Allan White for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series, Coolidge gave her thoughts about what fate should befall Greg in season three.
“My hope for Jon is that he’s not finished with Greg,” Coolidge said. “I hope there’s some comeuppance for evil Greg. I think he should, I don’t know, end up in a meat-grinding machine.”
She also talked about the scene that was perhaps the most targeted by memes: when Tanya empties a clip aboard a yacht full of gays who she famously said were trying to murder her.
“[White Lotus creator and showrunner Mike White] was looking for a big Italian opera ending, and it was big and dramatic, so he wanted me to die for many reasons,” Coolidge said. “But I also think Tanya’s a lot. Maybe people would get sick of her on another season. Maybe people would be like, ‘Oh, my God. Get rid of Tanya!’”
“I was creeped out, because we did shoot it in order, hanging out with the guys,” she added. “It felt very real. I really did like killing them all. “
Coolidge explained further what happened behind-the-scenes for that moment in the series.
“It’s my awkwardness with the gun that I think really helped,” Coolidge added. “We had to reshoot that a bunch of times. ‘Where’s the gun? The inside of the bag is black. I can’t find it.’ But it all felt real. When you’re on a boat and you’re in the middle of the ocean and there is nowhere to go, what if your cast mates hate you? They could just push you. Anyone can get rid of you on a boat.”
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