Moo Deng Met a Few White Lotus Stars-and the Result Is as Adorable as You Can Imagine
âWhite Lotusâ Stars Met Moo Deng- See the Adorable Video!
Every murder mystery deserves a cozy animated character. Â
And White Lotus stars, Sarah Catherin Hook and Sam Nivola, met an adorable icon that fits the bill: 7-month-old hippo, Moo Deng.Â
In a Feb. 25 video posted to Max and HBOâs Instagram, the actors visited the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand, where the showâs current third season is located, to meet social mediaâs cutest sensation. The clip began with Sarah, 29, gushing over Samâs excitement to meet Moo Deng, who went viral last year after the zoo shared a few videos of her online.Â
âSam was so excited when he found out we were coming here,â she said, before Sam jokingly replied with, âI went to the gym just to look good for Moo.â Â
After spotting a few other animals, the duoâwho star as siblings Lochlan Ratliff and Piper Ratliff alongside Patrick Schwarzeneggerâs Saxon Ratliff in the Emmy-winning dramaâs latest seasonâfinally saw the pygmy hippo walking around her spacious exhibit.Â
Sam, 21, then mentioned Mooâs viral status, asking his co-star, âDo you think she knows her name?â The two tested out his question by calling her name, and the animal playfully ran in their direction. Considering Moo Deng is an international star and aspiring singer, she made it clear that sheâs aware of her power.
Sarah and Sam also saw the hippo, whose name translates to âbouncy pig,â eating with her parents before learning about her lineage in a game of âTrue and False.â
The sweet video ended with the actors inviting Moo Deng to their White Lotus season three premiere on Feb. 16, with Sarah noting theyâll hire a glam team to make her look perfect for the event. The pygmy hippo didnât respond to their offer, but the Thailand zoo gifted them a shirt with the animalâs signature expression sprawled across it.
Fabio Lovino/HBO
While Moo Deng wonât appear on the showâs titular resort, White Lotus is filled with notable stars. Keep reading to see what celebrities appear in the latest seasonâŠ.
HBO; Christopher Polk/Shutterstock
Lalisa Manobal
How you like that? The singer known mononymously as Lisa went from being a rockstar on world stages as part of K-pop group Blackpinkâalongside Jisoo, Jennie and RosĂ©âto donning the White Lotus staff uniform for her big debut as Mook.
HBO; Entertainment Pictures/Entertainment Pictures/ZUMAPRESS.com
Jason Isaacs
Looks like Lucius Malfoy missed the train to Hogwarts and instead landed at The White Lotus. That’s right: He may look different without the luscious blond hair, but the Harry Potter star is returning to the screen as another uppity father figure, playing Timothy Ratliff, described as a “wealthy businessman vacationing with his wife and three children.”
Isaacs has also made more recent appearances on TV shows like Robot Chicken, The Great and Sex Education (alongside his White Lotus costar Aimee Lou Wood.)
HBO; Moviestore/Shutterstock
Parker Posey
Don’t scream when you see it, but Poseyâwho plays Timothy’s wife Victoria Ratliffâmay look familiar from her movies Superman Returns, Blade: Trinity, Scream 3Â and Dazed and Confused. She’s also had brief stints on such TV shows as Parks and Recreation, New Girl, Portlandia and Search Party.
But the real rom-com fans will know her from the 1998 classic You’ve Got Mail, in which she played Joe Fox’s (Tom Hanks) girlfriend Patricia Eden.
HBO; Prime Video
Patrick Schwarzenegger
While you may know him best from family photos as the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, he has already made a name for himself acting in Gen V, The Terminal List and The Staircase before playing Saxon Ratliff in season three.Â
HBO; Warner Bros. Pictures
Sarah Catherine Hook
Prior to taking on the part of the Ratliffs’ daughter Piper, Hook got her feet wet in the horror and fantasy genres, portraying Debbie Glatzel in The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Juliette Fairmont in First Kill and Elena Milak in Monsterland.
You may also know her from the 2024 Cruel Intentions remake as Caroline Merteuil or from the Ryan Murphy cinematic universe, in which she played Catherine Allday Davis in Impeachment: American Crime Story about the Bill ClintonâMonica Lewinsky scandal.
HBO; Netflix
Sam Nivola
Nivolaâwho is dating Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann’s daughter Iris Apatowârounds out the Ratliff family as young Lochlan. But before hitting the shores of Thailand, he was in another show about a rich family at the beach: The Perfect Couple, playing Will Winbury, the son of Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber’s Greer and Tag Winbury. He even costarred on the Netflix drama with White Lotus alum Meghann Fahy, who appeared as Daphne Sullivan on season two of the HBO show before playing Merritt Monaco on The Perfect Couple.
Nivola has also acted in White Noise with Adam Driver, Maestro with Bradley Cooper and With/In with Anne Hathaway.Â
HBO
Natasha Rothwell
Of course, White Lotus fans will recognize Rothwell from season one, in which she played spa guru Belinda in Maui. Not only is she reprising the part for season three, but the actress has also graced the screen in Insecure, Wonka, A Year and Change and Love, Simon. Plus, she lent her comedy chops to Saturday Night Live as a writer from 2014 to 2015.
HBO; Marvel/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock
Leslie Bibb
The Iron Man alum is assembling to play Kate in The White Lotus after portraying Christine Everhart in the Marvel franchise. More recently, she starred in Palm Royale as Dinah Donahue and Jupiterâs Legacy as Grace Kennedy-Sampson.
HBO; 20th Century Fox/Regency/Kobal/Shutterstock
Carrie Coon
The Gilded Age starâwho may also look familiar from The Sinner, Fargo and The Leftoversâsteps into the role of Laurie, who joins pals Kate and Jaclyn for a girls’ trip in Thailand this season.
HBO; Kobal/Shutterstock
Michelle Monaghan
While Monaghan plays TV star Jaclyn on The White Lotus, sheâs also a TV star IRL, having been on True Detective, Bad Monkey, Messiah and The Path. On the big screen, she’s starred as Julia in Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Angie Genaro in Gone Baby Gone.
HBO; Columbia/The Weinstein Company/Kobal/Shutterstock
Walton Goggins
You’ll feel justified in knowing that it’s not all in your headâGoggins really does look familiar. In addition to starring in two Quentin Tarantino movies (playing Billy Crash in Django Unchained and Sheriff Chris Mannix in The Hateful Eight), he is also known for being Boyd Crowder in Justified from 2010 to 2015.
HBO; Netflix
Aimee Lou Wood
The English actress joins the cast in season three as free-spirited Chelsea, who has an age-gap romance with Goggins’ character Rick Hatchett. Yet, she is best known for her role as Aimee Gibbs on Netflixâs Sex Education and also appeared in Seize Them! and Daddy Issues.
HBO; One 31
Lek Patravadi
Her acting credits may trace back 50 yearsâstarting with Grounded God in 1975âbut she most recently portrayed Prani Chiraanan on In Family We Trust in 2018.
HBO; C More Entertainment
Tayme Thapthimthong
The singer and former military man has acting credits that include Mechanic: Resurrection, Skin Trade and Paradox, as well as playing Pao on the TV series Farang.
HBO; A24
Christian Friedel
If 13 minutes wasn’t enough time to figure out where you recognize the German actor, allow us to refresh your memory. He played Rudolf Höss in The Zone of Interest, Reinhold GrĂ€f in Babylon Berlin and Georg Elser in 13 Minutes.
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