Aubrey Plaza, who starred in the second season of Mike White’s seminal HBO anthology The White Lotus, hasn’t actually watched any episodes of the hit show. Season 2 flew the show’s incredible ensemble cast, which also included Michael Imperioli, F. Murray Abraham, Jennifer Coolidge, Adam DiMarco, Tom Hollander, and Theo James, to Italy. Plaza played Harper Spiller, whose relationship with her husband Ethan (Will Sharpe) was already on the rocks before the tense holiday pushed it over the edge.

The White Lotus has won 15 Emmys across its two seasons (with many expecting the upcoming third season to dominate its respective awards season), but Aubrey Plaza hasn’t watched a single moment of it. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, the Parks and Recreation star revealed the very relatable reason why she hasn’t seen the show yet. While many actors refuse to watch their own work, Aubrey Plaza’s reason was less self-critical or pretentious. She simply couldn’t get her Max password to work. The actress said:

“I still haven’t, but I’m going to.
To be honest, I had trouble opening my HBO Max account when I was trying to watch it originally
. I couldn’t figure out the password and I usually just give up when I can’t figure out the passwords. I just can’t handle things like that.”

Plaza also revealed that, whenever she works on a project, she always asks the producers to send her a DVD (a format that the youngest generation may have never heard of) once the movie/series has been completed. But, in the age of countless streaming platforms, some studios have stopped making them. Plaza joked:

“I’d love a DVD, but they don’t send DVD sets anymore. I ask them every time.”

Aubrey Plaza Hates the Rise of Streaming Services

For modern cinephiles and audiences, streaming platforms have become an invaluable resource. The ability to watch almost any movie or show at the tap of a button was once incomprehensible. However, streaming services now pose a new problem for audiences… figuring out which of the dozens of platforms a particular movie is streaming on. It turns out, even major Hollywood stars, despite their industry connections, have the same problem.

Speaking to Vanity Fair, Aubrey Plaza revealed her seething hatred of streaming platforms. Despite having subscriptions to most of the services, Plaza said she usually gets so frustrated, she still ends up buying whatever she’s trying to watch on iTunes when she can’t get the streamer to work. Plaza said:

“I was trying to watch Top Chef season 20. Couldn’t figure out how to f*cking get Hulu + Live. I give up! I can’t. I just can’t. And so what I like to do is go on iTunes and buy movies that are old. Or I’ll go on iTunes and just, like, buy the whole Sopranos series, and then my husband will be like, ‘You literally can watch that for free on HBO Max.’”

The rise in the number of streaming services has become a contentious issue among audiences. The technology that viewers once thought would make network TV extinct has essentially reverted to network TV with extra steps and additional subscriptions.

The White Lotus
Season 3 releases on HBO and Max in 2025.