Evan Peters almost starred as Ethan in The White Lotus season 2

Evan Peters nearly bared it all for The White Lotus season 2.

The Dahmer star was initially set to play the role of Ethan in the sophomore season of the hit HBO satire, executive producer David Bernad revealed. However, scheduling conflicts (and divine intervention) allowed Will Sharpe — and his very good butt — to take on the role opposite Aubrey Plaza.

"That part was the last part we cast in the season, and originally it was supposed to be Evan Peters, but for whatever reason — scheduling or timing — it didn't work out," Bernad told Deadline. "We were really trying to figure how to cast that part so it didn't feel like familiar casting."

While in Rome auditioning Italian actors, "I was jet-lagged googling at 4 a.m., and I came across Will Sharpe in Giri/Haji, which is a brilliant show in the U.K.," Bernard recalled. "I'd never seen him before, and he was just incredibly talented. I looked at his other work and realized he was kind of a chameleon."

In season 2, Sharpe's Ethan and his wife, Harper (Plaza), vacation in Italy with his tech-bro pal and former college roommate Cameron (Theo James) and his wife, Daphne (Meghann Fahy). Audiences later discover that the deceased body floating in the ocean in the first episode of the show belongs to Jennifer Coolidge's character Tanya.

Coolidge previously joked to EW that she implored creator Mike White not to kill off her character. "I'm like, 'You don't have to, you know? Tanya doesn't have to die,'" she said.

Still, she respected his writing process. "It's like all these pieces to a puzzle and so when he comes up with something like Tanya has to die, I mean, she really did," she added. "This was an episode about women and all that they have to put up with and all their survival techniques."

As for the series' forthcoming third season, White previously hinted at a possible Asia setting — namely, Thailand — and Bernad confirmed the tease in his conversation with Deadline. "We've tried to work in Asia a lot and hopefully season 3 will be our chance to make something happen there," he said.

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