Patrick Schwarzenegger will have a martini, please

Ahead of his debut in ‘The White Lotus’ season 3, we asked the 31-year-old actor about his favorite cocktails, filming in Thailand, and following in famous footsteps

By Sirena He

Published: Feb 21, 2025

Photography: courtesy of Ketel One Vodka & Tanqueray Gin

WHAT SOUNDS BETTER than a martini on the beach in Thailand? Not much, according to Patrick Schwarzenegger. Fresh off filming the third season of The White Lotus, the 31-year-old actor made his own spin on the drinks his character enjoyed in Ko Samui, Thailand.

We’ll get there in a moment, but considering the new season of Mike White’s award-winning HBO satire debuts this Sunday night, let’s talk about it. Season three features a new ensemble of vacationers (with no shortage of secrets, of course) at a wellness-centered White Lotus resort in Thailand. Schwarzenegger plays Saxon Ratliff, the eldest son of a powerful family, who works closely with his father in the family business. Let’s just hope his story – as many arcs do in the world of The White Lotus – doesn’t have a fatal ending.

Schwarzenegger knows what it’s like to follow the legacy of a massively successful father—in his case, the inimitable Arnold Schwarzenegger. “That was one of the crossovers between me and the character,” Schwarzenegger tells Esquire. But he’s building his own legacy, one where he’s known for shape-shifting into any character, whether that’s a traumatized fire-starting superhero in Gen V, Tim Tebow in American Sports Story, or a spoiled and sex-obsessed eldest son in The White Lotus.

Getting into character as the manic Saxon Ratliff and filming in Thailand were all-new experiences for Schwarzenegger. But working with Tanqueray gin and Ketel One vodka was right in his wheelhouse. He’s a self-proclaimed cocktail connoisseur. And we highly recommend that you serve his two creations at your White Lotus watch party on Sunday night: Tanqueray and Ketel One’s The White Lotus Vesper Martini and Punch.

Ahead of Schwarzenegger’s debut in The White Lotus season three, he opened up about his favorite cocktails, filming in Thailand, and following in famous footsteps.

What’s Schwarzenegger’s first drink of the night? Take a guess. “When I start with the espresso martini, it gets me in the mood, and it gets me a little jazzed up,” he says. Photography: courtesy of Ketel One Vodka & Tanqueray Gin

Esquire: Did you enjoy filming in Thailand? Had you ever been there before?

Patrick Schwarzenegger: It was my first time. It was an amazing experience. It was beautiful. The culture was fantastic. The food was delicious. A really cool part about working with Ketel One and Diageo [the producer of Tanqueray] was that they wanted to do this White Lotus martini and the punch. It was cool to be able to bring some of the different cultural parts about Thailand and the flavors of the foods and drinks into the cocktails we made.

How did your partnership with Tanqueray and Ketel One start?

It started last year when we collaborated on some cocktails for Christmas and the holidays. They made a peppermint twist on an espresso martini that was so good. I can only have one or else I’d be flying off the walls. Once they started working with The White Lotus, it just made sense to continue our collaboration since I was on the show. They were willing to make elevated cocktails that matched with the vibes of the season and bring in specific ingredients of Thailand like the mango and pineapple juice.

Are you a cocktail guy?

I’m a cocktail connoisseur. I love a great cocktail. My tastes have evolved over time. [At first I enjoyed] something a little bit more sweet. That’s why it’s nice that for the White Lotus cocktails, we offer two different drinks. The punch is a little sweeter and fruitier. And one’s more straightforward and spirit heavy. But I love a martini. I’m Mr. Martini.

Well, you’re talking to Ms. Martini here. We just worked on a huge list of the best martinis in the country. How do you usually like yours?

I need that list and to hit the martini trail. But it depends on the night. I love an espresso martini, but I can only have one. Then I like to go for something a little more simple. Either a lemon-twist martini or I’ll do a dirty martini. I like to switch it up. I feel like when I start with the espresso martini, it gets me in the mood and it gets me a little jazzed up.

Are you excited for everyone to watch the show?

Yes. The first few episodes are really just building up the characters, their backgrounds, and who they are as people. Episode 4 is where it really starts to get going. That’s the episode where the group of different characters starts to collide and everyone’s together for the first time. That’s when it just goes crazy.

What was it like playing a character with a big family? How did you bond with your castmates?

I’d never met any of them prior to this experience. And, you know, what Mike really wanted was that crazy family dynamic with the three siblings. The months before filming, we were doing Zooms together and hanging out and getting comfortable with each other. Then once we got to Thailand, we just did everything together. We did family meals. We did hangouts in the villas. We got really close with each other, and we really bonded as a family.

What was it like having Parker Posey and Jason Isaacs as your parents?

Well, Parker I actually had worked with before on The Staircase. So I knew Parker. She was the one person on the set that I had met prior. So it was nice to be able to work with her again in a different capacity. I really bonded with Jason. He felt like another father to me; he took me under his wing. He was a mentor and always gave me pointers and words of recommendation.

“The character was Bradley Cooper from Wedding Crashers mixed with some other people from back in my days at school,” Schwarzenegger says of his White Lotus counterpart, Saxon Ratliff. Photography: courtesy of Binge

“The character was Bradley Cooper from Wedding Crashers mixed with some other people from back in my days at school,” Schwarzenegger says of his White Lotus counterpart, Saxon Ratliff.

When I got the audition, I knew it was for The White Lotus, so it was going to be crazy. But I didn’t know to what extent until I actually booked the role. When I was reading all the scripts, that’s when I really found out what was going to go down. Mike, first off, wanted me to watch a very specific reality-TV show that he based one of the characters on. And then the character was a little bit of Bradley Cooper from Wedding Crashers mixed with some other people that I had known from back in my days at school. I mixed and matched a couple different personalities, physicalities, and character traits. Mike wanted some weird, creepy traits about him but also really fun and likable traits. So I guess Patrick Bateman without the … I don’t know. You’ll have to wait and see.

Your character is really close with his father and really wants to work with his dad. Do you ever think you’ll work with your dad?

That was one of the crossovers between me and the character. We both had that similar experience of living in the fathers’ shadows, wanting to work hard, wanting to make a name for himself, creating his own path, and also looking for family approval. But I would love to work with my dad. I’ve consciously made the decision not to work with him until I felt that I was at a place that made sense. I wanted to have a résumé of different films and TV shows under my belt that were not necessarily successful, but I wanted to feel internally successful. I wanted to feel like I had made my own name for myself in the industry before working with him. It was always a fear of mine to have my first roles be with him or have anything to do with him, because I didn’t want it to be like that was the reason.