'Dahmer' Star Evan Peters Almost Got This 'White Lotus' Role
Executive producer David Bernad revealed the actor was supposed to star in the HBO hit series' second season.
Evan Peters almost checked into the White Lotus hotel.
That's right, the American Horror Story alum nearly joined fellow TV icons Jennifer Coolidge, Michael Imperioli, and Aubrey Plaza for the second season of The White Lotus, the show's executive producer David Bernad revealed in a recent interview.
So, who exactly was Peters slated to play in the Sicily-set season? Plaza's character's on-screen spouse Ethan.
"That part was the last part we cast in the season, and originally it was supposed to be Evan Peters," Bernad revealed to Deadline Feb. 22, "but for whatever reason—scheduling or timing—it didn’t work out."
As fans of Peters well know, the actor went on to star as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in Ryan Murphy's true crime anthology series for Netflix, titled Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
The role of Ethan eventually went to British actor, writer, and director Will Sharpe, who was previously best known for winning a BAFTA in 2020 for his role in the BBC thriller series Giri/Haji.
Related: Everything We Know So Far About 'The White Lotus' Season 3
"We were really trying to figure how to cast that part so it didn’t feel like familiar casting,” Bernad recalled. “We were in Rome auditioning Italian actors, and I was jet-lagged Googling at 4am and I came across Will Sharpe in Giri/Haji, which is a brilliant show in the UK. I’d never seen him before and he was just incredibly talented. I looked at his other work and realized he was kind of a chameleon.”
Sharpe not only perfected his American accent, but ended up being excellent in his breakout role.
In an Esquire profile, the White Lotus star discussed the depth he brought to the role as a half-Asian actor. "There is a certain way that Asian men in particular have been played on screen historically, so it’s about not playing into that. I wanted to bring some complexity and darkness to him," he noted.
The actor continued, "I have played characters who are brilliant at maths, and there is a kind of trope, so I wanted to bring some mess to Ethan."
You can catch up on seasons one and two of The White Lotus on HBO Max.
