Sydney Sweeney was one of many bright spots of The White Lotus Season 1, but the star has revealed she almost didn’t get the opportunity to join the cast.
For those unaware, Sweeney played Olivia Mossbacher on the award-winning anthology series’ freshman season.
Olivia was the daughter of Nicole (Connie Britton) and Mark (Steve Zahn).
In a new interview with Variety, Sweeney revealed that producers didn’t think she was the right fit for the role.
When she scored the coveted role on The White Lotus, she was a series regular on Euphoria as Cassie Howard.
“They didn’t think that I was right for ‘White Lotus,’ because I did ‘Euphoria.’ So I put myself on tape, I auditioned for ‘White Lotus’ just like everybody else and had a call back like everybody else,” the star shared.
“I could get offered roles that are similar to the ones that I’ve played, but the ones that are different, the ones that surprise people that I do, are the ones that I usually have to fight for.”
Indeed, Olivia is a complete 180 from Cassie, but it’s hard to imagine how differently things could have been had the producers opted for someone else.
The White Lotus Season 1 was lightning in a bottle, with everyone delivering perfect comedy timing and memorable performances. It was THAT good.
Sweeney shared the screen most with Brittany O’Grady, who played Paula, Olivia’s friend from college.
For now, Sweeney is staying put at HBO with Euphoria Season 3 in the works.
She also stars in the HBO original movie, Reality, which premieres today (Monday, May 29, 2023) on the premium cabler and streaming service.
Sweeney plays a young woman on trial in 2017 for leaking American intelligence.
The 25-year-old is also attached to Madame Web, starring opposite Dakota Johnson.
On the rom-com front, Sweeney will turn up the heat opposite Glen Powell on Anyone But You, a new movie set to release in theaters on December 15.
Unfortunately, Euphoria is not expected to return to HBO until at least 2025, but there is the possibility Sweeney will return to The White Lotus.
White Lotus creator Mike White recently told The Hollywood Reporter that an All-Stars season could be fun.
“It would be easy to just be full-on anthology, but I think it’s more fun to have little threads through the show,” he said.
“If the show goes on for a couple of seasons, it would be fun to have an all-star season.”
Honestly, we’d take anything that Mike White has to offer and think he would deliver a compelling mystery for an all-star season of the vacation drama.
Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.