Evan Peters was initially slated for season two of The White Lotus
After scheduling conflicts, Will Sharpe stepped in to replace Evan Peters in The White Lotus' second season
The White Lotus executive producer David Bernad shares that one crucial season two character was originally set to be played by Emmy-winner Evan Peters. At the Berlinale Series Market in Germany, Bernad tells Deadline that Peters was originally selected to take on the role of Ethan Spiller (which later went to Will Sharpe).
“That part was the last part we cast in the season, and originally it was supposed to be Evan Peters, but for whatever reason—scheduling or timing—it didn’t work out,” Bernad says.
Peters did star in another popular series this fall over at Netflix, this one with a way worse title and an ethically questionable premise. Instead of appearing as a workaholic tech entrepreneur with a homoerotic rivalry, Peters devotedly played the infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in Dahmer—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, for which he recently won a Golden Globe. While the show was not named specifically as the reason Peters could not appear in The White Lotus, the project timing adds up.
After Peters backed out of the second season, Bernad says the role of Ethan then needed to go to someone audiences are less familiar with. By chance, he ended up watching Sharpe in the BBC and Netflix co-production Giri/Haji.
“We were really trying to figure how to cast that part so it didn’t feel like familiar casting,” Bernad says. “We were in Rome auditioning Italian actors, and I was jetlagged 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 went on to secure the role of Ethan in the second season, playing opposite Aubrey Plaza, Meghann Fahy, and Theo James as four guests trying to get through an awkward and tense vacation together. In the end, it’s impossible to know how Peters would have handled the role, but Sharpe really nailed his performance as Ethan. Besides, there’s always a chance Peters could join the series for season three.