The White Lotus' Haley Lu Richardson manifested her Mike White collaboration

Earlier today, The A.V. Club’s own Gabrielle Sanchez sat down for a conversation with Haley Lu Richardson, one of the breakout stars of the current season of HBO’s The White Lotus. (Richardson plays Portia, the assistant to Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya, who finds herself dragged to the titular Italian resort by her often-fickle boss and then subjected to various romantic triangles and travails.) Sadly, Richardson wouldn’t lay out exactly who’s going to die in the show’s finale this week for us—even though, as she revealed, everyone in the cast knew, since the season arrived already fully written by series creator Mike White. But she did talk about how she got the job in the first place, revealing that she’d actually employed a manifesting exercise specifically focused on working with White, who she described as one of the top 5 creator’s she’s been interested in collaborating with.

Describing a scripting letter that she wrote shortly before getting her audition, Richardson said, “One of the things I literally wrote was, ‘I’m so thankful that I got to work with Mike White, and it was such a beautiful experience…’ A couple months later, I got the audition, and then I got the job!”

As Richardson (jokingly) laments, not everything that she put in her letter to the universe came true. Still, one out of three certainly isn’t bad—either for her, or the audiences, who’ve gotten to enjoy the resultant, officially universe-endorsed, collaboration with White on this season of the show.

The White Lotus airs its season finale on Sunday, December 11 on HBO. Meanwhile, you can watch the full interview—including the moment when Richardson picks out her favorite piece of Portia’s, let’s say, eclectic fashion choices—right over here.