Despite some fans’ concerns over Season 2 of The White Lotus introducing a new cast of characters instead of having the original characters return, the sophomore season went on to be one of the best shows of 2022. Millions of people tuned in to HBO and Max each week to watch episodes as they dropped, and yet Aubrey Plaza, one of the stars of the season, has yet to watch the show that garnered her first Primetime Emmy nomination.
It’s not uncommon for actors to not want to watch themselves, especially if they hated the role or the way things turned out. Thankfully, Plaza doesn’t fall into the category, and her reason for not watching her phenomenal performance is much more relatable. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal Magazine, the Parks and Recreation star explained why she still hasn’t seen Season 2:
I still haven’t, but I’m going to. To be honest, I had trouble opening my HBO Max account when I was trying to watch it originally. I couldn’t figure out the password and I usually just give up when I can’t figure out the passwords. I just can’t handle things like that.
Who knew Emmy-nominated actors are just like us? As if forgetting her password isn’t relatable enough, she then doubled down and totally gave up on watching her critically acclaimed performance. Honestly, who can blame her? The only thing worse than forgetting your password is trying to reset it only to be unable to get into your email or, even worse, getting told you’ve already used your “new” password.
No one wants to go through with all of that, especially not on Max, which doesn’t always have the most user-friendly interphase. And with all of the best streaming services attempting to crack down on password sharing, it's not like she could have called up one of her co-stars for help.
Unlike other streaming shows that air exclusively on these sites, the Mike White series also aired live on HBO, meaning Plaza could have caught the episodes on the premium cable channel. This either never crossed her mind, or she’s even more relatable than she lets on and doesn’t even have an HBO subscription. Judging by what she told WSJMag next, I think the latter is true:
I’d love a DVD, but they don’t send DVD sets anymore. I ask them every time.
Cutting her teeth in the broadcast world with Parks and Recreation, it makes sense that Plaza would be expecting a physical version of her work to be given to her instead of a digital link or access code. Unfortunately, it seems like the days of physical media, even for the stars themselves, are over.
Hopefully, someone will help Plaza out so she can see why her performance earned so much praise — and maybe it’ll even lead to more hilarious behind-the-scenes stories coming to light, like when she and a co-star took mushrooms while hiking on their off-time.
You can catch the first two seasons of The White Lotus with an active Max subscription — assuming you remember your password. And don’t forget to check back as we bring you all the news about Season 3 coming in 2025.
