theo james white lotus scene

Ok, was Theo James wearing a prosthetic in THAT White Lotus bathroom scene?

This is a very serious investigation


If you’re only just getting into season two of The White Lotus you’ll have recently been confronted by something shockingly sizeable at roughly the 36th minute of episode one: Theo James’ penis.

Yup. When Theo’s character Cameron Babock follows Aubrey Plaza’s character Harper Spiller up to her bedroom to borrow her husband’s swim shorts, Cameron pulls down his pants in front of the mirror Harper is looking into and flashes his enormous dick. 

Right now, we have no idea whether the penis parading was intentional or accidental. But Theo has revealed that in episode five (airing this Sunday) there’ll be more clues about exactly why Cameron “revealed” his penis in front of Harper. Intriguing. 

theo james white lotus scene

Credit: HBO

But we’re actually all way less interested in Theo’s character’s motivation for whipping his penis out and more captivated by whether the shaft on show was real or not. It was Just. So. Big.

So, in case you can’t sleep at night without knowing if this was a case of real penis or prosthetic, we’ve done a very serious investigation into that Theo James White Lotus scene: 

So, is Theo James wearing a prosthetic in that White Lotus scene?

Theo has given away some interesting behind the scenes information about that White Lotus scene: “The initial version we shot was way too much,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “So, we did a more subtle version. They toned it [down].” But, sadly Theo never revealed whether what was on display was him, a body double, or a prosthetic penis.

However, in the US it’s the Federal Communications Commission’s [FCC] law that erect penises have to be prosthetic. Otherwise, the footage counts as porn. So, surely Theo’s penis was fake, right? Well, not necessarily because if you look closely (we said this was a thorough investigation) you’ll see his penis actually isn’t hard at all. It’s just huge. 

But prosthetic penises are being used more often in Hollywood in general in order to make actors comfortable – and stars are always given the option to use one if they want to. So, although Theo’s penis was flaccid in The White Lotus scene, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was actually him on display. 

Often, networks and studios won’t allow actors to do “full frontal” nudity, which this scene would be. So, men are given prosthetic penises and women can use merkins, which are like pubic wigs to avoid being exposed during the scenes they’re filming. Yet, HBO actually has no ban on going fully nude. So, if Theo was up for it, it may have actually been him after all.

That being said, in season one of White Lotus, another character, Mark Mossbacher played by Steve Zahn, also had a penis scene, where he used a body double and a prosthetic penis: “I didn’t even have to do that part,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s somebody else wearing a prosthetic. That’s about as absurd as it gets, right?”

So, if body doubles and prosthetics are The White Lotus’ standard practice, this definitely wasn’t Theo James’ penis on our screens. Sorry. 

Featured image credit via HBO. 

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