One A-lister was originally supposed to star in The White Lotus season two

The White Lotus became an immediate cult-classic after its 2021 release, and with season three officially in the works, the award-winning show is back on everyone's radar.

But despite new details around season three dropping each week - from the HBO show's new location and filming delays to debates around whether Jennifer Coolidge could be making a return, it is still The White Lotus' second season that gets the world talking the most.  

The second instalment of the acclaimed show dropped this year, seeing a series of glamorous (and tortured) guests descend on the White Lotus hotel, in Sicily. And from major award nominations to our first IRL White Lotus couple - Meghann Fahy and Leo Woodall, the cast are still all anyone can talk about.

This week it was the original White Lotus casting that made headlines, with the show's creators admitting that a very famous face was originally set to star in the show.

Yes, really. Evan Peters was originally cast as Ethan Spiller, a newly rich computer programmer and husband of Harper Spiller (Aubrey Plaza).

But according to the HBO show's executive producer David Bernad, the casting fell through due to scheduling conflicts, with the role ultimately played by Will Sharpe.

"That part was the last part we cast in the season," Bernard said of the role in an interview with Deadline. "And originally it was supposed to be Evan Peters, but for whatever reason - scheduling or timing - it didn't work out."

He continued: "We were really trying to figure how to cast that part so it didn't feel like familiar casting. I was jet-lagged [in Rome] googling at 4 am, and I came across Will Sharpe in Giri/Haji, which is a brilliant show in the UK. I'd never seen him before, and he was just incredibly talented. I looked at his other work and realised he was kind of a chameleon."

Well, as they say, the rest is history.

We will continue to update this story.