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The White Lotus Season 3 finale completely blew fans away — and honestly, would you expect anything less from Mike White? Calling the episode intense would be an understatement. The 90-minute rollercoaster had everything: drama, chaos, heartbreak — and left pretty much every character emotionally wrecked by the end. But one moment, in particular, has everyone buzzing (and reaching for tissues): the devastating death of fan-favorite couple Chelsea and Rick.
In the jaw-dropping climax, Rick gets caught up in a shootout while trying to take revenge on the man he believes killed his father. Things go horribly wrong when Chelsea ends up getting shot. In a desperate attempt to save her, Rick himself gets gunned down by Gaitok, making the scene even more gut-wrenching.
At a recent Q&A in Los Angeles hosted by Queer Eye’s Tan France, Aimee Lou Wood — who played Chelsea — gave fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what it was like filming that heartbreaking sequence. She shared that they shot the finale on what felt like the “hottest day ever” in Thailand. Walton Goggins (who plays Rick) had to carry her around during the scene over and over again, and she joked that the struggle you see on-screen was very, very real for the actors too.
Wood also opened up about how heavy the mood was even before they filmed the last episode. She said it felt like this dark cloud was just hanging over the cast — everyone knew something awful was coming, but they had to push through it. Talking about her character’s tragic ending, Aimee admitted it was a strange experience because, while Chelsea didn’t know her fate, she (as an actress) did. That knowledge created this eerie, emotional weight for her long before cameras even rolled.
Even now, months after filming, Wood says the reality of it still hasn’t fully hit her. “It’s not sunk in yet,” she confessed. She also admitted that there were several parts of that final episode that made her absolutely sob — not just cry a little, but full-on ugly cry.