Actress Carrie Coon made a splash on season 3 of HBO’s hit show, “The White Lotus.” She starred as Laurie Duffy, who was visiting the luxurious Thai resort with a few of her childhood friends. Coon, a competitive high school runner, did all her own sprinting for the show, which spawned several creative memes on social media. The show has made her a household name, but Coon has always been in the industry.
During a Drama Actress Roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter, Carrie Coon sat down with Sarah Pidgeon, Claire Danes, Kerry Washington, Rhea Seehorn, and Chase Infiniti to discuss the highs and lows of working in Hollywood. During one part of the conversation, Coon was asked about how “The White Lotus” gave her profile a “boost,” even though she had already achieved fame from shows like “The Leftovers” and “The Gilded Age.”
“That part, the public discourse about you and your life, has always felt so far from me,” Coon said, admitting that she will “read reviews” and “haunt Reddit” to see what is being said about her and her work.
“I want to know how the work is landing in the world. It’s important to take in the good and the bad because then you know that it’s all subjective and actually has nothing to do with you,” she added.
Coon Describes The Fan Reactions To Her Role
Coon went on to joke that “the slow and steady rise of Carrie Coon has happened entirely outside of my life — even now after The White Lotus.”
She recalled how she was at a restaurant in Newport when “this sweet young thing who was serving me said, ‘Do you play guitar?’”
“I’m still moving through the world with people vaguely kind of maybe thinking they know me from their high school,” she continued. “It’s great, and I don’t want to change that.”
However, she did admit that “there were a lot of think pieces written about the show and the women” on “The White Lotus” and speculated that “maybe people started watching The Gilded Age” after seeing her performance in the HBO hit.
That being said, she admitted, “I haven’t seen the material results of that yet.”
Carrie Coon Admits She Still Has To ‘Fight’ For Roles
Despite the success of “The White Lotus,” Coon admitted, “I think I’m like the top of the B-list now. Instead of the seventh person you come to, I’m like the fourth.”
She went on to reveal that she still has “to fight” for larger roles and acknowledged that she’s “going to have to fight for big movies,” because she is currently being offered a lot of “unfinanced indie scripts.”
“That’s what I’m getting,” she admitted. “And it’s probable that, if The Gilded Age were to go away, I would get another television job. For me, I haven’t leveled up in the way that you think of.”
Coon Talks Her ‘Favorite Meme’ Of Herself
Elsewhere in the interview, the actresses were asked if they had a favorite meme of themselves. Immediately, Coon replied, “Me sprinting away from the gunshots in The White Lotus.”
She went on to say that she felt “deeply gratified” to see the way people “lauded” her “physical life,” because she had an athletic background.
“I love hanging out of a window. I love running. I also just felt like, yeah, that’s a very American response. You hear a gunshot, you’re out of there. That felt very real to me,” she replied. “There’s also my really ugly cry face.”
She joked to Claire Danes, who is currently starring in “The Beast in Me,” that “you and I both share” the “cry face.”
When it came to fans recognizing her on the streets, however, she admitted that “it’s always The Leftovers fans that recognize” her. “I always hear about people’s grief. It’s very moving,” she said. “There’s such deep sharing that happens, and it’s not trite, and I’m very grateful for it.”
‘The White Lotus’ Will Return In 2027
Fortunately, fans won’t have to wait too long to see the return of “The White Lotus.” It is currently filming on the French Riviera and is set to hit the streamer in 2027.
Although many fans were looking forward to seeing Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter appear in the beloved show, she left shortly after filming started. Her role was reportedly rewritten and recast, with “Jurassic Park” alum Laura Dern stepping into the new part.
