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Spoiler alert: This story contains spoilers for the end of season 3 of “The White Lotus”, now transmitting in Max.

When Mike White called him, asking him if he would return to “The White Lotus” for a third season in Thailand, Jon Gries said: “I am available at any time, anywhere. Whatever, I am there.”

But unlike his trips to Hawaii and Sicily, Gries’s participation in season 3 required an extreme level of secret. At the beginning of production, it flew to Thailand disguised as a hat, dark sunglasses and a covid mask, and did so without being detected. But that was just the beginning.

“When I finally arrived in Thailand, the first thing I wanted to do was meet my cast partners,” says Gries. Variety. “Everyone likes to feel, because we are all together in this thing.”

He was invited to hang out with the cast and the team before executive producer David Bernad called: “I’m very sorry, Jon, but you can’t go.”

“I ended a lot in my room,” says Gries.

Initially, White wanted to hide Gries even from the cast of “The White Lotus”, but soon realized, between the costume and makeup accessories, that Gries was forced to cross the routes with the other actors. “At first, they were playing with the idea of ​​maintaining an absolute secret, as in lonely confinement,” says the actor.

Finally, Gries was allowed to socialize with the rest of the whole, but the approach of the tight lips of the series for the return of his character was worth it. When Greg reveals himself as “Gary” in the first game of season 3, it was a shock for the spectators, who thought they had seen the last of the murderous spouse of Tanya McQloid.

Advance in the end, Greg is in a tense conversation with another “Loto Blanco” student, Belinda (Natasha Rothwell). She knows that he had something to do with the death of Tanya and serves as a reminder that Greg’s quiet life in Thailand, where her yacht mounts and nothing in a mansion of the hillside courtesy of the fortune of her ex, could be taken at any time.

In the penultimate episode of the season, Greg offered Belinda $ 100,000 in exchange for his silence, saying that he could use the money to fulfill his dream of opening his own spa, which is what Tanya would have wanted. (Aww?) Belinda has moral repairs to accept this agreement, but with the help of her son Zion (Nicholas Duvernay), he returns to Greg with a counterofferte: $ 5 million. Greg finally accepts, and the two characters promise to disappear from the life of the other forever.

Then, Gries discusses his third place in “The White Lotus”, and if Greg’s is a happy ending. The fantasy of his character also makes sense and details what could have happened if Belinda returned only to the negotiating table.

When I was covering the first season of this program, I published a list that classified the characters of Good To Evil, and Greg was third on the good side, only behind Belinda and Quinn! What happened?

He fell into Mike White’s trap.

Was it evident to you while filming the first season that Greg could not be who says it is?

No. As anyone would, I read the character and I thought, it has to be too good to be true. When will the other shoe fall? But then I thought, maybe he is the real business. That is sincere in its difficult situation. The doctor says that he has ended at any time, and that he only lives life as the water in the back of a duck. At that time, I had not bequeathed with the show. We had no idea what I was coming later, so I told Mike: “I have no tricks under the sleeves here. I’m just playing this directly like a gun.” And he said it’s fine.

Despite the secret that surrounds your return, I saw some photos behind your scene in Thailand. Was he ever recognized in public?

There was a day when we all left in a boat and then we stopped in a local sandwich place on the way back, in Phuket. An Australian boy approached me and said: “I know you, you are from ‘The White Lotus’. And I know they are filming here.” Of course, he did not recognize any of the other people, although they were the cast. I just said: “Yes, they are here. I am visiting. What a perfect moment to visit the people I know are working here!” I really sold it without losing a rhythm. He said: “I have a golf company, you should come to visit.” And I said: “I’m just here for a week, I’m just going to avoid where I am.”

How was it when the first episode was issued?

I had friends who contacted me: “I can’t believe you lied to me.” That happened throughout the program race, because some people do not look when it is transmitted. They are exhausting later, which is a pity for them. I think seeing “The White Lotus” is cheating.

Some of its co -star have described treacherous filming conditions in Thailand. How was season 3 compared with the first two seasons?

The environment played an important role. The original start date was planned before, and the season would have been much easier to work. But due to the strike of actors, we do not start until March and April, being April the most popular month in Thailand. The locals said: “It has never been so hot.” He felt as an environmental emergency. The ocean water was ridiculously hot, like a bathtub. There was no relief. It was really intense. There was a lot of illness. I was lucky not to have received food poisoning, but not as meat. Normally, that will take you before a vegetable.

Before talking about the end, I want to ask a logistics question: if Greg is worried about being trapped or recognized in Thailand, why would I choose to hang out in a white lotus complex?

There is the illusion that whatever happens in Thailand stays in Thailand. There are many expatriates and people whose stories are really not counted. It is a tacit agreement that nobody asks. Greg finds comfort with that, he feels that no one will bother him there. There are too many people flying from the network and under the radar.

Is Greg trying to Lowball Belinda with its offer of $ 100,000, or is it a fairly good price for its silence?

An interesting story happened to me years ago, and I used it to justify how this happened. They offered me a job in an independent film company. And the person who was financing everything really cheated these producers to think he had incredible wealth. One night they picked me up in a limousine and said: “We want to offer him a job.” He offered me $ 75,000, and began to laugh. I called the other producers and said: “I don’t think this guy knows what he is doing. I don’t think it’s real. He really felt $ 75,000 was a lot of money.” This guy was a scammer, and did not understand the value of money. I think this is Greg/Gary. Although he bought this house ridiculously ostentatious and a yacht and God knows what else, his idea of ​​distributing money, remains the rural and suburban type to which he grew up.

So, do you think the $ 5 million hurt?

I think he weighed his options, and took Zion to his word: “We leave.” And he thought that, in the long run, it is not a problem when you have that kind of money. I wrote everything about why he would, which implies alleviating part of his guilt for Tanya doing something in his honor.

Did you write a justification for Greg’s actions for yourself?

I did. I have the script in my folder, and I turn the pages and write stories. I write stories about Greg’s past, about how he knows Chloe, about how he sees people in general. It is a bit misanthrope. He doesn’t want to commit to anyone. He is a bit prisoner in an interesting way, because he doesn’t trust anyone. Chloe is a perfect partner because she is intelligent and can play a hard game. And she is beautiful and sexy, so that fulfills a very visceral desire.

How touched is Chloe in terms of who is really Greg?

I don’t think Greg had told him about Tanya, apart from that, he died and he entered the money. He could manufacture that he was involved in helping to build his wealth. There may also be manufactured stories, if not told, about the things he has done in the past to try it, to see if he surprises it or if he can roll with that. During the first year, I imagined that Greg was auditioning Chloe. She is definitely a fatal woman in her own way.

How do you think they met? At the beginning of the season, Rick is convinced that Chloe is a escort because they met in Dubai and seems not to know much about her.

I think it may have considered being an escort and may have been a host in some of these places. I had a friend who once worked at a Korean host bar. They do not [sexual] Things, but if one offered the right money, then maybe one would do something. The agreement is written in stone that it is a type of “hands out” place, but the woman I know that she worked there said that many book agreements were made. In my mind, that’s where I saw Chloe existing.

How did Greg’s fantasy informed you to the character?

It helped a lot. As they say, it is not so much what your character says, it is what other people say about your character that informs who that person is. I recognized that Greg has no interest in having friends. Everything was by contract, since it was easier to have control of these relationships, instead of being counted for love or loyalty, or any of those things. He is living a separate life.

There is a juxtaposition between Sam Rockwell’s monologue, which is his character that confesses his deepest sexual fantasies, Versus Chloe telling Greg’s wishes while he is out of sight.

Mike White is very bright. There is also the scene in which Chloe returns from the Full Moon party and tries to lie to me. [about sleeping with the brothers]That is so stupid because I have a crew that the boat is directing. Obviously they told me everything that was happening, I suppose. Greg crosses each “t” and borders each “me” in that sense. Then, decide to change their gear and say: “They finish it. I want it to end.” At the same time, he also says: “I need you to help me with something, because I have plan A, and if that doesn’t work, I have plan B.” The complication is Zion. If Belinda had come alone and rejected the $ 100,000, it is not known what could have happened.

Are you hinting that Greg could have killed Belinda?

I don’t think I would have come so far, but I could have pressed it to leave. I could have scared it.

When reading the scripts, did you ever think Greg could die or be the one who killed?

I didn’t know when I entered season 3 if I was going to be the one who died. While reading the episodes, I began to feel that I was perhaps who would kill someone, because there is much more implicit with Greg than spoken. But I try not to guess too much.

What did you do of Belinda by pulling a Tanya in Porchai?

For Greg, it’s a bit of “Welcome to the club!” This is what happens. It is a comment on the individuality that one buys when they have a larger bank account. They can be extracted from the dresser that is the regular population.

Patrick Schwarzenegger told us that the original cut of the end lasted 2½ hours. Was any of his scenes on the floor of the cutting room?

I think everything that was supposed to do in episode 8 was there.

Where does Greg leave the end? Are you alone?

I don’t know if there will ever be a resolution. When Greg tells Belinda to love Thailand and wants to die there, I think it’s a kind of history, so that everything sounds so picturesque. This guy can’t sit still.

So, do you think his story is over in the white lotus?

I have no idea. What do they say about being the best hockey player in the world? You have to know where the album is going before I go there. I am not a hockey player. I can’t even imagine entering Mike White’s incredible mind.

This interview has been edited and condensed. See VarietyThe “The White Lotus” coverage, including a summary, cast interviews and a review, here.