Haley Lu Richardson broke out in a major way as Portia, Tanya’s (Jennifer Coolidge) put-upon young assistant with a quirky style and penchant for bucket hats and questionable relationship choices in Season 2 of HBO’s The White Lotus.
While her boss met her maker in the finale, Portia made it out of Italy alive, making her available to come back should The White Lotus creator Mike White choose to revisit the character in future seasons. Richardson is game to do it. Why?
“I just think that’s a hilarious question,” Richardson told Deadline at Sundance where she is for the premiere of Kogonada’s movie zi, which she produces and stars in. “People are like, ‘Would you do it if they asked you back?’ Obviously, I don’t think there’s a single one of us that probably wouldn’t,” Richardson said of her fellow White Lotus stars.
“Mike is a genius. I really trust him,” she added. “Porsha has her moments, but I have empathy for her, and I’d play her again.”
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As for what Richardson think Portia is doing following the traumatic events in Sicily, “I hope she’s in therapy,” she said.
Richardson currently stars opposite Emilia Clarke in Peacock’s Cold War spy comedy-drama Ponies (Persons of No Interest). They play Bea (Clarke) and Twila (Richardson), secretaries at the American embassy in Moscow who become CIA operatives themselves after their husbands, who had worked for the CIA while posing as American diplomats, die under mysterious circumstances.
Twila is the tougher, more fearless of the two when they embark on the risky adventure. They get the hang of the spy craft by the end of the season only to find themself cornered, with KGB guns pointed at them in the finale. (You can read Deadline’s postmortem interview with the series creators here.)
Ponies has gotten off to a promising start, ranking among the top two titles on Peacock’s daily Top 10 series in the U.S. since its launch; Luminate and Nielsen viewership data will shed light at the show’s performance when it becomes available.
“I’m literally waiting for a call to be like, ‘Guys you did good enough to do a Season 2, but I haven’t gotten that, so I don’t know,” Richardson said about a potential Season 2 renewal.
“I would be excited for Twila to tap in even deeper into her vulnerability, because I think that’s something that she’s been doing for the first time in her life throughout the arc of the season, so I would like to explore that more,” she said.