Natasha Rothwell almost s— her pants on ‘The White Lotus’ because of a lizard

Natasha Rothwell narrowly avoided a, well … s—ty situation while filming The White Lotus season 3.

As excited as the season 1 cast member was to return to creator Mike White’s vacation satire, she was not prepared for the wildlife when she got to set in Thailand. “Lizards are everywhere,” Rothwell tells Entertainment Weekly. “And in the hierarchy of my fears, spiders are at the top, but a close second are lizards. And when I mean they’re everywhere, they could be in your room!”

The actor, whose White Lotus Maui employee Belinda travels to Thailand for a resort employee exchange program, was in for quite the surprise one night after filming due to a wayward lizard. And just as her onscreen character freaked out at the sight of a lizard in her room, Rothwell did not react calmly in the moment.

“I remember calling one of the hotel employees to my room because between me and the bathroom was a lizard,” Rothwell says. “And I was just like, ‘I’m going to s— my pants if I don’t get this solved.'”

Rothwell laughs as she remembers how the resort sent a brave staff member to save her and clear the way to her bathroom. “Luckily, he got it out and I didn’t s— myself,” she says. “But it’s one of those things where you have to accept that you’re not in Kansas anymore. You know what I’m saying?”

Lizards weren’t the only hindrance Rothwell had to get used to while filming in Thailand. “The heat was also unbearable,” she says. “It’s next-level heat, so much so [that] we would have ice packs on set and we would be shoving them all in our outfits.”

Rothwell praises Rebecca Hickey, the head of the hair and makeup department on set, with saving the cast members from looking like melted ice cream between scenes. “She would beat us to the gods and then our face would be on our chest by the end of the take, and so she would be constantly rebuilding,” she says.

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Add in the fact that it was also monsoon season during production, and you’ve got the perfect storm of obstacles for the beleaguered set. “It was the first time in my career where shooting had to stop because of lightning and rain,” Rothwell says. “We would show up to set, we would get some shots off, and then we would all have to huddle indoors. I remember we were in one of the sets, Belinda’s room, and it was just chock-full of crew, and we were all just sitting there, playing on our phones, waiting for the storm to roll by, and then we got to shoot again.”

She adds with another laugh, “So yeah, it’s not for the weak, shooting abroad, but I loved every minute of it and would do it again in a heartbeat.”

The White Lotus season 3 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.