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How the 'White Lotus' stars reacted to Season 2's wild ending

“My jaw kept dropping — but it was so fun to read,” Haley Lu Richardson, who plays Portia, tells TODAY.com
Haley Lu Richardson, Adam DiMarco, Aubrey Plaza and Leo Woodall shared their reactions to the ending of Episode 7.
Haley Lu Richardson, Adam DiMarco, Aubrey Plaza and Leo Woodall shared their reactions to the ending of Episode 7.HBO
/ Source: TODAY

Warning: This post contains spoilers for “The White Lotus."

Shocking, surprising and not going to end well — this is how four stars of "The White Lotus" described the ending of Season Two.

Speaking to TODAY.com, Aubrey Plaza, Leo Woodall, Haley Lu Richardson and Adam DiMarco — who learned of the finale months before the rest of us did — all share their reactions with TODAY.com.

Aubrey Plaza

Aubrey Plaza holds a knife while eating breakfast in "The White Lotus."
Aubrey Plaza holds a knife while eating breakfast in "The White Lotus." / HBO

“I was definitely shocked when I found out,” Plaza told TODAY.com in October. “But you do forget it, just like the show. You kind of forget it, but then it’s a lingering thing. That’s what makes the show so fun — you know it’s not going to end well.”

Leo Woodall

“It was definitely shocking,” Woodall told TODAY.com earlier this month. “The man (creator Mike White) knows how to shock people and keep everyone guessing.”

“I was quite sad that I couldn’t read further and keep going,” he continued. “I think that there is definitely a withdrawal once ‘Lotus’ finishes — I had it with Season One after watching it and I had it with Season Two after reading it.”

Haley Lu Richardson

Haley Lu Richardson as Portia, Leo Woodall as Jack in "The White Lotus."
Haley Lu Richardson as Portia and Leo Woodall as Jack in "The White Lotus."Stefano Delia / HBO

“I was like, shocked,” Richardson tells TODAY.com. “My mouth, my jaw kept dropping — but it was so fun to read. I was evil laughing the whole time I was reading it.”

“It’s convoluted. It's maniacal. It's dark. It's twisted. It's everything you want,” she says.

Adam DiMarco

Adam DiMarco as Albie Di Grasso and Simona Tabasco as Lucia Greco having a drink at a bar in "The White Lotus."
Adam DiMarco as Albie Di Grasso and Simona Tabasco as Lucia Greco having a drink at a bar in "The White Lotus."Stefano Delia / HBO

“When you read the script you get caught up in the minutiae of the relationships, and I need to remind myself that someone dies,” DiMarco told TODAY.com in October. “I was surprised.”

So, uh, what happens in the finale of ‘The White Lotus’ Season 2?

Now’s your chance to stop reading if you haven’t seen the episode.

In the final episode of Season Two, Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) begins to have doubts about Jack (Leo Woodall), including that he may have taken her phone in the middle of the night.

Portia uses Jack’s phone to call her boss, Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge). In a stolen conversation, the two finally put all the pieces together — Quentin (Tom Hollander) knows Tanya’s husband, Greg (Jon Gries), and they’re in on a plot to get her fortune. Under the limits of their prenup, Greg can only inherit her millions if she dies.

Tanya is aboard Quentin’s yacht to get back to Taormina so she won’t miss her flight back to the U.S., and after speaking to Portia, begins to fear for her life. Niccolo, the Italian local who she had met at the palazzo party, shows up on the yacht to bring her back to the shore on a small boat — carrying with him a mysterious black bag.

As day turns to night, Tanya's anxiety reaches an all-time high. She grabs Niccolo’s bag and locks herself in a bedroom. There, she finds the weapons he brought to kill her.

It all unravels into a shootout that leaves Quentin and several of his associates dead. Tanya’s body ends up being the one in the water in Episode One. While trying to land on the getaway boat attached to the yacht, she falls and hits her head on a metal railing.