Warning: This article contains spoilers aboutThe White Lotusseason 2 finale.
Jennifer Coolidgewants to make it very clear: Tanya did not surviveThe White Lotusseason 2.
Italian authorities are literally shown zipping her into a body bag and taking her to the morgue.
Jennifer Coolidge in ‘The White Lotus’.Fabio Lovino/HBO
“And I had to correct them.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What have you thought of the reaction to the episode so far?
There’s all kinds of reactions to it.
Jennifer Coolidge on ‘The White Lotus’.Fabio Lovino/HBO
There was actually more than two people who thought it was like some sort of dream.
They thought it was a dream even though I was in a body bag.
They somehow thought it was all in Tanya’s head or whatever.
They didn’t get that I was dead dead, forever.
Dead in every sense.
So you had to break the news to them?
Yeah, and then I had to watch and listen to their reactions like, “Oh, really?
Oh, no!”
I was just surprised that they were just finding out this morning that it’s real.
She was very vulnerable for quite a bit of this show.
Poor Tanya, she misjudged.
But Mike and I had a talk about it.
Mike was like, “I’m killing you off.”
And I was like, “Oh, that’s interesting.”
They added so much to how scary it got.
I don’t know, it’s something I hadn’t really thought about.
When Mike told you that you were getting killed off, what was your reaction?
Tanya doesn’t have to die."
I would joke with him.
But everyone’s just trying to survive when all this mean stuff is going on.
It’s like how do you handle betrayal?
People don’t recover from it."
And there’s a lot of betrayal going on in this show.
Mike is a master.
But I think Mike had not planned for Greg to go this way.
He had good intentions for Greg, but thought maybe it’d be more interesting if he was awful.
Mike White knows me pretty well.
We’ve been friends for a very, very long time.
I met him onGentlemen Broncos[in 2009], Mike [played] my boyfriend.
Did that feel like some kind of justice for Tanya?
Tanya just sort of let that moment go.
I was just glad I wasn’t going to have to reshoot the drowning.
Was it difficult when you were shooting those scenes on location?
Well, it’s just that you have to hold your breath for so long.
And you get tired out doing it.
You have to go a long period time.
And boy, I would love to ask her how she did that.
And then you have signals from the cameramen to stay and you have to stay down there.
It was really hard.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
