Aimee Lou Wood is finally free...to talk about The White Lotus! Spoilers ahead! Now that the season is over (RIP), the actor is revealing behind-the-scenes secrets, including the Rick and Chelsea scene that got cut from the season 3 finale. Warning: If you're still upset that Rick and Chelsea didn't really get their happily ever after, you should prepare yourself to be even more distraught.
“There was this beautiful scene with Rick and Chelsea that didn't make it into the final episode,” Aimee revealed in a post-finale interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “They're back in the bedroom, and she asks him if he did anything bad [while he was away], and he says no, and she knows that he's telling the truth and she's very happy and joyful.” (Excuse me while I sob for what could have been.)
She continued, “And then she says, ‘This year's my Saturn return, so it's either going to be the best or the worst year, and I think it's going to be the best, don't you?‘ And he says, ‘I do.’ And then he picks her up and he kisses her and he puts her on the bed. And it was beautiful.”
According to Aimee, the scene was cut because it felt redundant after their dinner scene. “If we'd had that, then the scene where he says, ‘That's the plan’ wouldn't have been as special,” she explained. Okay, she has a point, but I still reserve the right to be mad at showrunner Mike White for leaving it on the cutting room floor.
And, that's not the only Rick and Chelsea scene we didn't get to see. Speaking of the original scripts she read, Aimee said there was a lot more information about the couple's backstory. “Before it was me playing Chelsea and Walton playing Rick, Chelsea talked about things like his money more. She'd be like, ‘Oh, it's okay when you spend money, but not when I spend money,’ and he's like, ‘Yeah, because it's my money and you're not my wife.’”
Other nuggets that didn't make the cut included “gnarly arguments” and dialogue where they reminisced about the time Rick told Chelsea she was her soulmate...when they were high on meth in Cancun. It's unclear if these scenes were ever shot, and while Aimee said that she wished some of those moments had been used to show them as equals in the relationship, things were changed because “we can't have anyone doubt, even for a second, that Chelsea loves Rick.” She added, “Their death and their fate, Rick and Chelsea, it had to be a love story.”
