The White Lotus actor explains why the brothers have that uncomfortably weird relationship

The White Lotus is finally back with season three and everyone is talking about one thing and one thing only after the first episode – the Ratliff brothers!

Older brother Saxon, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, and younger brother Lochlan, played by Sam Nivola, have this super weird dynamic almost like they’re in love.

It’s so awkward to watch and that episode ending where he did *you know what” in the bathroom while his sibling watched was just downright strange.

So, what’s going on with them? Well, Patrick has revealed why the brothers have such a weird relationship in a new interview with the Radio Times.

Credit: HBO

He explained there isn’t any romance between them. Saxon is just trying to encourage his younger brother to follow his warped perception of “what he thinks makes a man”.

“I think that one of the things that we worked on as a group, as a family, was to try to create that dynamic: the closeness, but the oddness, the weirdness [that] we thought was normal, the older brother to younger brother relationship,” he said.

“But I think that Saxon actually really does care about his brother. He cares about his sister. He loves his mum and his dad. He looks up to his father like no one else.”

The actor added that the “very odd and weird” dynamic is exactly what the show’s creator Mike White wanted, but claimed Saxon and Lochlan’s relationship is “still very loving at the same time”.

Started white lotus and getting weirdddd vibes from this older brother

— Malibu Michael 💕🌴 (@mce1201) February 17, 2025

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“I mean, it’s just that Saxon has this false perception and idea of what he thinks makes a man and who he thinks he is, and he’s trying to groom his younger brother to become that,” he continued.

“He doesn’t want anything for him to do with his sister, who he thinks is completely lost and is out of her mind that she’s even attempting to look at Buddhism and be in this foreign country – away from America and the life that we live.”

So, it’s supposed to be a super odd dynamic and this isn’t the start of some weird incest storyline as many have envisaged.

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Featured image by: HBO