EXCLUSIVE: Jake Lacy defends his controversial White Lotus character as he opens up about finally stepping out of his villain era.14:06, 11 Jul 2026While Jake Lacy is ready to step out of his villain era and finally return to his "good guy" roots on our screens with his efforts in A Mosquito in the Ear, there is one character he will never stop defending.‌The 40-year-old starred in the first season of the White Lotus in 2021, joining an all-star cast including Jennifer Coolidge, Molly Shannon, Connie Britton, Sydney Sweeney and Steve Zahn.‌He played newlywed Shane Patton, who was on his honeymoon with Alexandra Daddario’s Rachel, but when they sailed into the exclusive resort, they were given the wrong room.‌Despite the gorgeous surroundings, he spent much of the trip obsessing over the slight, bugging manager Armond (Murray Bartlett) and even getting his mum involved. Things came to a violent end when he accidentally stabbed the concierge after a bizarre fight, leading to his untimely death.While Shane checked out of the hotel five years ago, there are still almost weekly debates on social media, with fans arguing about whether he was secretly “the protagonist”.‌Having his say, Jake told the Mirror that he would return to the comedy drama in a heartbeat, before laughing: “I'm the wrong person to ask. Of course, he was in the right. They lied to him . He's paying $20,000 a night for a hotel room and they lied to him.“This is what’s so fun about that character, and what's so brilliant about [creator] Mike White - Shane is totally justified in his feelings, he's spending an obscene amount of money for a hotel room, you should get what you pay for.“His behaviour and response to it is obnoxious, entitled, annoying, pathetic, petty, beta and all these things, so he gets to feel completely justified in the way he behaves, and we as viewers get to go, ‘I get why you feel that way, but you can't treat people like this. We're trying to have a society here’.‌“Before we started filming, Mike and I met up in Hawaii, and I was like, ‘Yeah, he's an a*****e,’ and Mike said, ‘I think he's a good guy who's trying to have a nice time on vacation, and everybody keeps messing it up for him.’"I think he has a paranoia that comes, potentially, when you have a lot of money, that you never know if you're being treated a certain way because they assume something about you, or because you've actually done something that deserves this sort of pushback… That never knowing mixed with privilege, access and entitlement, mixed with being done wrong, is such a fun swirl.”‌"That is the fun dichotomy of all these characters where you can see where they're coming from and also, you know, up to a certain point, depending on where your line is for how you conduct yourself in the world, can be like, "I would totally do that." And then at some point are like, "I would never do that," even though it's the same person."There's a line in there that Shane has where he’s like, ‘It's not my fault, just you wait, this has been happening to me my whole life. You'll see.’‌"He really believes that. And in a way, he's right, it isn't his fault that he's born rich and good at lacrosse. Those are good things where he comes from, you know what I mean? But they allow for a certain worldview and behaviour that everybody else is like, ‘Gross.’”One of his most memorable scenes came when Shane found himself trapped on a boat with a grieving Tanya, played expertly by Jennifer, who had booked the trip to scatter her mother’s ashes, unknowingly trampling all over his romantic honeymoon cruise. “I adore her,” Jake praised. “She was not feeling well while we filmed that, and she was still so funny, she was unbelievable.“I've never read anything like it. I always want to absorb any attention from it and just pivot it towards Mike … we got to be in his sandbox, but he built this thing for everybody.”‌Away from the White Lotus, Jake has enjoyed a string of comedic turns, including the Office, Johnny English Strikes Again, and a scene-stealing role in Girls. With his latest appearances in All Her Fault and now A Mosquito in the Ear, he is stepping back into more dramatic roles.His emotional new movie, directed by Nicola Rinciari and based on a true story , follows an American couple travelling to India to adopt a young girl, and her struggles to leave her old life behind.‌However, Jake confessed that he did have “minor concerns” before agreeing to play dad Andrew. He recalled: “I was concerned it would be treated as a white saviour story. On the page, Andrew could potentially come across as disinterested, that this is his wife's journey and he's willing to support her in that, but he's a little hesitant.“I didn't really want to play a role that's just a dumb husband who's along for the ride but doesn't offer much. Nico said it's absolutely not a white saviour story, and that the whole point is that Sarvari has her own life, that it really costs all of them something for this family to coalesce - she's an equal participant in that choice.”Jake has been a staple of the small screen since his 2008 debut in Guiding Light. With his latest movie, he is thrilled to have such a unique career behind him.‌“I spent the first 10 years of my career playing nice boyfriends,” he said. “I played good guys and I was just completing other people's stories. For 60 years they had the manic pixie dream girl, and then slowly, thankfully, we made that character the lead, and it meant that that secondary relationship role became the stable, boring boyfriend. That's where I fit in for quite a while.“Then I started playing people that you shouldn't be alone in a room with … It is nice to go back to that [character] where there isn’t an ulterior motive.”A Mosquito in the Ear is screening at London Indian Film Festival on July 12.Article continues belowLike this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.