This story contains spoilers from the March 2 episode of The White Lotus.
Not all the drama on The White Lotus takes place onscreen.
While filming the March 2 episode of the HBO satire, Walton Goggins was forced to face his deep-rooted fear of snakes—resulting in some behind-the-scenes chaos.
“I don’t just have a phobia—it’s like a missing link when it comes to snakes,” he explained during a March 5 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “There’s something, like, genetically wrong with me when it comes to snakes.”
In one scene from the episode, Walton’s character Rick gets high and releases several serpents at a snake farm, resulting in one biting his girlfriend Chelsea (played by Aimee Lou Wood). Although the actor had been briefed on which of the reptiles were poisonous before cameras rolled, his primary scene partner wasn’t particularly friendly.
“As I was pulling the snake out, he didn’t want to come,” the 53-year-old continued. “And so the snake turns around and he bit me. I haven’t told that story to anybody.”
