'The White Lotus' creator Mike White says he pulled a 'stealth move' by making Chelsea and Rick a love story to root for in season 3

• "The White Lotus" creator Mike White said he pulled a "stealth move" to get fans to fall for Chelsea and Rick.
• It worked, Chelsea and Rick became two of the fan favorite characters of the season.
• White said the duo was inspired by age-gap couples he saw in Thailand.

Warning: spoilers ahead for the season three finale of "The White Lotus."

Chelsea and Rick are among the fan-favorite characters of "The White Lotus" season three, and the show's creator Mike White said this was by design.

The couple, played by 31-year-old Aimee Lou Wood and 53-year-old Walton Goggins, seem like a poor match when they arrive at the White Lotus resort in Thailand together due to their big age gap, Chelsea's naive outlook on life, and Rick's dismissive attitude toward her.

On Sunday's episode of "The White Lotus Official Podcast," White said Chelsea and Rick were inspired by the age-gap couples he met in Thailand.

"I got on an elevator, and there was this older guy, and the young girl was very hot, and you know, boobs all pushed up. She was showing him some runway photos or something, and you could just tell he could not give a shit. She was just living in her reality," White said. "I was like, it'd be fun to have this kind of relationship where it feels like he's probably in it for the sex, but it's almost not worth it."

Age-gap relationships are having a moment in pop culture with films like "The Idea of You," "Babygirl," and "Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy" featuring romances between older women and younger men.

However, in 2022, the Pew Research Center, citing US Census Bureau data, said that the percentage of opposite-sex marriages in which the husband or wife is three or more years older is declining, which could suggest that people are moving away from long-term age gap relationships.

The percentage of older husbands decreased from 43% in 2000 to 40% in 2022, while the percentage of older women went down from 11% to 10% in the same timeframe.

Mike White said he wanted viewers to root for Chelsea and Rick

White said he wanted to surprise the audience by making them fall for Chelsea and Rick.

"I was just like, it'd be interesting to do kind of a stealth move where ultimately you suddenly find yourself really rooting for this couple, and you love them and have her be this kind of woo-woo and into astrology," White said.

As Rick slowly opens up to Chelsea, fans too warmed to the couple — which made the season three finale even more tragic.

Rick has a secret agenda for being in Thailand, confronting his father's killer. But when he carries out the plan in the finale, it backfires and Chelsea is killed. As he tries to carry her away, Rick is shot, too, and they both fall into the nearby water and bleed out.

Fans were split over the ending, with some blaming Rick for Chelsea's death, while others were sad the couple died after making a deeper connection.

White said of Rick and Chelsea's death on the podcast: "There's something that feels a little like a hint to a life beyond, that love transcends this life. Even as they're wheeled out to the plane together in their symmetrical coffins, their love transcends this in some bittersweet way."