Of the hidden messages featured throughout Mike White’s HBO anthology series “The White Lotus,” one of the stronger connections hinted at in this season’s installment is Rick’s relationship to snakes. Played by Walton Goggins, Rick is a Scorpio who’s arrived at The White Lotus Thailand with girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) under mysterious circumstances and with possibly nefarious motives. In addition to his astrological sign drawing attention this relationship with snakes, in Episode 2, Rick also attends a snake show that sees him attempt to set all of the cage-bound reptiles free.
While Rick may care for this slithery creatures, Goggins recently told Jimmy Kimmel during an episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” that he found shooting the scene to be absolute torture.
“I don’t just have a phobia — it’s like a missing link when it comes to snakes,” Goggins said. “I am terrified of snakes — really, really terrified — and there’s something, like, genetically wrong with me when it comes to snakes.”
Though the animal handler briefed him thoroughly on all the varieties of snake he’d be working and which ones to avoid, once the director called action, Goggins immediately started to panic. Nonetheless, he persisted, but perhaps should’ve taken a second to calm down before doing so.
“As I was pulling the snake out, he didn’t wanna come, right? And so he turns around and he bit me,” said Goggins. He added later of his reaction, “I wish I could’ve been cool — like I fancy myself a pretty cool guy. Like, ‘Hey, yeah, I got a snakebite.’ This was my reaction: I swear to God, it was like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been bit by a snake! Oh my God!’”
Thankfully, the snake in question wasn’t that venomous and Goggins only needed a little antibiotic ointment before jumping back into the shoot. However, once producers got word of what occurred, they did feel it was best for Goggins to go to the hospital.
“I said, ‘For what? You said the snake was nonvenomous, right? Am I dying a slow death? Is there something you know I don’t know?,’” Goggins told Kimmel.
He added of the overall experience, “It was a nightmare for me — really, genuinely. It was two days of like, ‘I can’t, I can’t, I can’t,’ and they had somebody right off camera, as soon as I would pick a snake up, I’d bring it over and put it in their arms like, ‘Oh my God,’ and almost f**king pass out every time.”
Watch Goggins’ full appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” below.
