'Alien: Earth' features an unexpected 'White Lotus' crossover
The White Lotus Season 3 isn't the only major show of 2025 to film in Thailand. Noah Hawley's Alien prequel Alien: Earth shot there as well, with the series taking place in a futuristic version of the country, now called New Siam.
That's not the only overlap the two series share, though! They also share a star, as a White Lotus Season 3 actor pops up in Alien: Earth.
In Alien: Earth's very first episode, Tayme Thapthimthong, who played Gaitok the security guard on the third season of The White Lotus, makes a brief but memorable appearance. He plays Anant, a member of the Prodigy search and rescue team that's sent to help survivors of the USCSS Maginot's crash in Prodigy City.
Tragically for Anant, this is an Alien project, and that means that most of the people who step foot in that crashed spaceship won't be stepping back out. They'll be fodder for the Xenomorph that's now running rampant in the wreckage — or for the four new alien species that were also part of the Maginot's cargo.
That's the fate that befalls Anant, who's one of the first victims of a gnarly new tick-like alien. It burrows into his flesh and sucks him dry, becoming a distended blood balloon in the process. What a spectacular entrance to the franchise for this new beastie!
While Thapthimthong won't be returning to Alien: Earth — losing all your blood will do that to you! — he does get to join the ranks of other actors who have died spectacular deaths at the hands of the franchise's horrifying extraterrestrials. Those ranks include Alien's John Hurt, the original chestburster victim, and Alien: Romulus' Isabela Merced, who birthed and then fell prey to a nightmarish Xenomorph/human hybrid.
Now that Alien: Earth has unknowingly opened the floodgates to a White Lotus crossover, who's another character from the show you'd want to pit against Alien: Earth's alien foes? The obvious answer, in my mind, is Parker Posey's Victoria Ratliff. Can I imagine Victoria embracing her inner Ripley (Sigourney Weaver)? Not really, but I'd still love to hear her Southern drawl take on Ripley's most quotable line, "Get away from her, you bitch."
New episodes of Alien: Earth premiere Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Hulu and FX.
Topics Streaming The White Lotus
Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
