Murray Bartlett talks about his dream role in The White Lotus

Holing up in Hawaii during the pandemic has been a blessing for Aussie actor Murray Bartlett, who can’t wait for fans to see the finale of The White Lotus.

Fans of hit series The White Lotus should “expect the unexpected” when the hotly anticipated finale of the addictive social satire airs on Monday, says its standout Aussie star Murray Bartlett.

“That’s (creator, writer and director) Mike White’s MO — he doesn’t let you off the hook and he’s relentlessly surprising,” Bartlett tells Sunday Confidential from his Massachusetts home.

“There will definitely be some shocking moments.

“What I love about Mike is even when things are wrapped up in a little bow, they have an edge to them. I’m really excited for everyone to see it, it’s an extraordinary episode.”

Murray Bartlett with Jolene Purdy in The White Lotus.

He may be almost 20 years wiser, but to many TV geeks Bartlett will always be the Aussie shoe distributor who got to have fake brunch with Sarah Jessica Parker in the famous All That Glitters episode of Sex And The City.

That led to two decades of highlights, including working alongside Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz, but as the fastidious Armond, resort manager of the fictional White Lotus resort, Bartlett has shot to new heights.

The HBO limited series, which has just been greenlighted for a second season, was filmed at the height of the pandemic last year, with Bartlett and his ensemble castmates — including Jennifer Coolidge, Steve Zahn and Molly Shannon — whisked to Hawaii, narrowly escaping the carnage as Covid hit the US.

The show follows an eclectic bunch of hotel guests as they try to rejuvenate with a week in paradise. But all is not as it seems, and Bartlett’s character is at the core of tensions as the seemingly picture-perfect travellers unravel, sending five-years-sober Armond into a dramatic drug-fuelled downward spiral.

Bartlett with Sarah Jessica Parker on Sex And The City. Picture: Big Pictures USA

“You never know how people are going to respond or how it’s going to land but it felt like such a special group and the script was so strong, it felt like it was going to be something worth watching,” he says.

“And it’s had such a great response and a lot of love, so I’m thrilled.”

His Aussie-based family and friends are thrilled too. Of course they would love anything he did, he laughs. But The White Lotus, which screens on Foxtel, has been a bright light for content-hungry Australian audiences locked up at home.

“It is very timely in terms of dealing with a lot of themes that are very pertinent to all of us and it holds a mirror up to us in a way that I think is very pertinent,” Bartlett says.

“It’s disarming in its comedy but you realise there’s a really powerful message underneath and a bit of a knife being twisted as you’re laughing.”

Bartlett describes shooting the show on location at the Four Seasons Resort in Maui as “surreal”. “I was aware every day how lucky I was to be there, particularly in the middle of a pandemic but … it did have a magic about it.

Bartlett (left) on location in Hawaii.

Similarly surreal, the experience of sitting at a bar with Sarah Jessica Parker will always be etched into his mind — and how it came about in true New York fashion.

“Someone my friend was friends with, was friends with the producers of SATC. So my friend told his friend and she told her friend, and I went in for an audition – you couldn’t make it up,” he says.

“I had been in New York for six months and wasn’t really planning to stay. I had no visa at that point, so to be there and doing acting classes, and then suddenly I’m having fake brunch with Sarah Jessica Parker — it was mind-blowing,” he says.

The White Lotus is available to watch On Demand on Foxtel; the final episode premieres Monday, 11am.