His Hollywood career as a character actor spans decades, but this The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones star has decidedly become the internet’s guy du jour — for more than one reason.
Who is it? Walton Goggins.
He is an award-winning actor whose notable roles include Fallout, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, The Shield, The Hateful Eight and Django Unchained. He’s well known for portraying dark, eccentric and sometimes unhinged characters.
- In addition to being an actor, he’s also the face of Walton Goggins Goggle Glasses, a somehow real sunglasses brand that launched after his recent GoDaddy Super Bowl commercial.
What’s the big deal? Well, The White Lotus has once again kept up its years-long streak as one of the buzziest shows in primetime. But it was Goggins’ amor fati in the Season 3 finale with on-screen girlfriend and costar Aimee Lou Wood that solidified him as one of the biggest breakout stars of HBO Max and creator Mike White’s most successful TV show to date. (Plus, who could forget Sam Rockwell’s monologue scene?)
- Immediately after the season premiered, the internet’s take economy was flooded with perspectives on everything about Goggins: his smile, his hairline and the oft-explored difference in what men and women perceive as attractive. The chatter all led to one conclusion — people were gaga over Goggins.
- In Sunday’s season finale of Lotus, it was revealed that Goggins’ character was one of the mystery deaths of the show’s climax. Back to back with his scene-stealing portrayal of evangelical pastor Uncle Baby Billy in Gemstones, it’s safe to say this has been a big year for him.
What are people saying? The “Goggins Girlies” (as his fans have called themselves) have had plenty to say online. So has everyone else.
On playing Rick: Goggins and Wood set the internet ablaze this week after both sharing a series of cryptic Instagram posts about the relationship between their characters. While Goggins referred to it as: “Only ever a love story, hindered by unresolved, childhood trauma,” Wood set the record straight in an interview with Variety, saying: “Both of them are crazy. I love them so much, but they are crazy, and they die because they’re crazy. They don’t die because it’s a love story. They die because they’re crazy.”
On some of that alleged drama: Jason Isaacs, who plays the suicidal and homicidal hedge fund father of three, has been vocal about his experience on the show and spoke to The Guardian about a… tense work environment: “It was a theatre camp, but to some extent an open prison camp: you couldn’t avoid one other. There are tensions and difficulties, I don’t know if they spilled from on screen to off-screen, or if it would have happened anyway. There were alliances that formed and broke, romances that formed and broke, friendships that formed and broke.”
ME: …so not only did Walton Goggins not go to the finale, he and Aimee Lou Wood unfollowed each other on Instagram. On top of that, you have Jason Isaacs saying that people got close and then fell apart. You just gotta wonder.
MY WIFE (rubbing temples): The baby is crying.
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) April 9, 2025
Not now, sweetie. Mummy’s reading Reddit theories on Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood pic.twitter.com/HRV0Rs0yjf
— Charlotte Reynoldson (@charreynoldson) April 9, 2025
So, what now? While Rick is no longer grimacing on our screens, Goggins’ portrayal of Uncle Baby Billy Freeman will continue until The Righteous Gemstones series finale in early May. That means there’s plenty more time for people to obsess over his range and commitment to his roles.
- And for Goggins, it might be a refreshing change of pace. During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Tuesday, the actor shared that he was relieved to be moving on: “It just was in my body, and that sadness, for so long, you know. And it was really last night that I feel like I’m finally able to let it go.“
Transcript:
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Every week, there’s a new main character – someone or something the internet is obsessed with. Well, hosting ALL THINGS CONSIDERED is a busy job, and I can’t always keep up with all the internet discourse. Luckily, one of our resident young people, producer Mia Venkat, is extremely online, and she is here to keep me hip. Mia, do people still say hip?
MIA VENKAT, BYLINE: No.
(LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: OK. Well, I’m learning already (laughter).
VENKAT: Hey, that’s why I’m here, Ari (laughter).
SHAPIRO: OK, so tell me, who has the internet become obsessed with this week?
VENKAT: OK, Ari, can I get a drumroll, please?
SHAPIRO: Drum roll (vocalising).
VENKAT: HBO’s “White Lotus” star Walton Goggins.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “THE WHITE LOTUS”)
WALTON GOGGINS: (As Rick Hatchett) Well, even evil things shouldn’t be treated like [expletive]. It’s only going to make them more evil.
VENKAT: Do you know who he is?
SHAPIRO: Actually, a friend of mine, David Mack, wrote a deep-dive investigative piece on whether he is hot or not.
VENKAT: (Laughter).
SHAPIRO: I’m sorry, David. I didn’t actually read the piece.
VENKAT: (Laughter).
SHAPIRO: But is that why he’s the main character of the week?
VENKAT: It’s part of the reason. And honestly, I don’t really want to talk about it ’cause I think…
SHAPIRO: ‘Cause this is NPR.
VENKAT: This is – ’cause this is NPR, and we’re serious, Ari. But is he hot or not? Let’s get in.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
VENKAT: Your friend wrote an article, and let me say, I think it’s one of maybe, like, 20 I’ve seen about the subject.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
VENKAT: Here’s one headline from Vogue – Why I’m Hot For Walton Goggins’ Hairline.
SHAPIRO: Oh, he has a high hairline.
VENKAT: (Laughter) It’s – yeah, it’s back there. And here’s another one from Times Of India from this week – Is A Receding Hairline Sexy? – “White Lotus'” Walton Goggins Is Paving The Way.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter) I love framing him as a trailblazer for having a high hairline.
VENKAT: Personally, as a woman of Indian descent, thrilled to see Times of India getting involved in the Goggins goss. But yeah, sure, he has a receding hairline. He’s got kind of, like, big veneers. Like, he’s got…
SHAPIRO: Wild veneers.
VENKAT: … A big smile. But I think what this really comes down to is the tale as old as time, men have no idea what women find attractive.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
VENKAT: And people are into Walton Goggins because he has charisma. He’s funny. He’s goofy.
SHAPIRO: Yes. And abs.
VENKAT: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: He has abs.
VENKAT: He does have abs.
SHAPIRO: Come on.
VENKAT: And he’s – and the photoshoots have made that clear. But I think it’s, like, he just has really great vibes, so he’s hot. Like, God forbid a man with a receding hairline, massive veneers, also has good vibes and people are calling him hot.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
VENKAT: Do we need a million think pieces on it? Probably not.
SHAPIRO: It reminds me of when Patrick Stewart starred in “Star Trek” back in the ’90s and the debate was over bald men being hot.
VENKAT: (Laughter).
SHAPIRO: This is the 2025 version of that.
VENKAT: Exactly.
SHAPIRO: So is he main character of the week solely because of the hot-or-not debate?
VENKAT: That’s part of it, but another part of it is the double Goggins Sunday.
SHAPIRO: Double – that sounds like a delicious dessert.
VENKAT: (Laughter) So the double Goggins Sunday – so obviously, “White Lotus,” hugely popular HBO show – that’s at 9 p.m. on Sundays. We had our last one with the finale this week. Right afterwards, “The Righteous Gemstones” airs. That’s a show about…
SHAPIRO: Megachurch family.
VENKAT: A big – yeah…
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
VENKAT: …A family that runs a megachurch. It’s really silly. It’s fun. Walton Goggins plays a crazy character on that show. He plays Uncle Baby Billy.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES”)
GOGGINS: (As Baby Billy Freeman) That’s what I need right there, my own game show.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Uncle Baby Billy, isn’t this just exactly the pitch for “Family Feud”?
GOGGINS: (As Baby Billy Freeman) It ain’t no “Family Feud.” This is “Baby Billy’s Bible Bonkers.”
VENKAT: Costumey (ph) outfits, wild accent. Just like…
SHAPIRO: They’re yin-yang roles, where…
VENKAT: Totally.
SHAPIRO: …”White Lotus,” he’s all interior brooding, and “The Righteous Gemstones,” he is over-the-top nutso.
VENKAT: Absolutely. And I think a big reason why this week – with it being the last double Goggins Sunday – people are kind of giving him his acting flowers. Like, that is a crazy range to have.
SHAPIRO: The man is acting with a capital ac (ph).
VENKAT: Sure.
(LAUGHTER)
SHAPIRO: So we’ve got is he hot or not, double Goggins Sunday. Is that the totality here?
VENKAT: OK, I’m glad you asked, because this last part, I, as a journalist, struggle to share with you because a lot of it is totally speculative. But there’s a lot of speculation on the intercast dynamic and…
SHAPIRO: Oh, and he has this much younger actress playing his girlfriend on the show.
VENKAT: Yeah. Aimee Lou Wood plays Chelsea, his onscreen girlfriend, and they do have a lot of chemistry on screen. But on top of that, after the show wrapped, they’ve kind of both – especially Goggins has posted a lot about her and about their characters’ love life. And he posted this, like, 18-picture series on his Instagram story of just the two of them together from their time in Thailand. And then she also posted something about Rick and Chelsea, their characters. And both of these respective posts, Ari, were set to the song “Silver Springs” by Fleetwood Mac.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “SILVER SPRINGS”)
FLEETWOOD MAC: (Singing) Time cast a spell on you, but you won’t forget me.
VENKAT: And…
SHAPIRO: Bbut to me, this feels like tale as old as time. Like, when “A Star Is Born” came out, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were doing exactly this, and the internet reacted in exactly the same way.
VENKAT: That could be part – it could just be a PR thing to get people to watch the show. I think it’s, like – this is kind of like what the internet does, which is make something out of nothing. There’s always going to be investigators online of, like, who unfollowed who and what happened. And no one ever knows. This is all speculative. Obviously, I don’t know.
SHAPIRO: The important part is that all of this allows us to say that this week, the internet has been wearing Goggins goggles.
VENKAT: Ari, do you know that that’s an actual thing?
SHAPIRO: Wait, what? Goggins goggles – I didn’t just make that up in this moment?
VENKAT: Yeah, it’s a sunglass company called Walton Goggins Goggle Glasses.
SHAPIRO: No.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
GOGGINS: Because if your goggles ain’t Goggins, they don’t belong on your noggins.
VENKAT: That’s real.
SHAPIRO: And that is not an endorsement.
VENKAT: And his fangirls are called The Goggins girlies. So this week is for the Goggins Goggles and the Goggins girlies.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter) The Goggins goggles and the Goggins girlies – thank you, Mia Venkat.
VENKAT: Thank you, Ari.