Warning: This article contains minor spoilers for the most recent instalment of The White Lotus.

No show portrays an uncomfortable conversation quite as realistically as The White Lotus, and this week’s episode featured an especially toe-curling scene courtesy of our resident gal pals.

For the past few weeks, tensions between the group of “long-time” (“not old!”) friends played by Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan and Leslie Bibb have been slowly developing as pass-agg barbs have flown among the group.

In this week’s instalment, things took a turn when it emerged that Leslie’s character is a supporter of Donald Trump, in one of the anthology series’ most explicitly political scenes to date.

Many viewers may well have been left pondering exactly when the scene was conceived and shot, given that Trump is now back in power.

Well, what makes the scene even more interesting is the fact that it was written not just before Trump was re-elected, but before it was even confirmed that he’d be running in the 2024 US election.

In fact, White Lotus creator Mike White wrote the script for the new series as far back as in 2022, but it wasn’t filmed until last year, as the show was pushed back due to the Hollywood strikes of 2023.

Leslie told Variety: “When we were filming it, it actually felt like it was going to be irrelevant. It’s randomly current.”

She added: “I think it’s so easy to be divisive, and it felt like Mike — not that he wasn’t picking a side — was just showing that not everybody’s a villain. [Kate, Leslie’s character] wasn’t going to ruin this holiday over who she voted for.”

In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, the former Marvel star quipped: “I feel like Mike had binoculars into the future because when we did it, it just didn’t feel [timely anymore]. I was like, ‘We already did that. That was in the past.’ I don’t even think Trump was running when we did it — it was in January or February of last year or something, so yeah, that was pretty wild.

“But he’s like a little soothsayer, that Mike White. It feels like we’ve hit a nerve. We’re in the zeitgeist, as they say. We’ve done something current, if you will.”

Season three of The White Lotus is a particularly star-studded one, with cast members including Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Blackpink star Lisa (in her acting debut) and Sex Education favourite Aimee Lou Wood.

The White Lotus continues on Mondays on Now and Sky.