The White Lotus star debunks internet's favourite season 3 killer theory

In The White Lotus season 3 premiere, however, viewer suspicion went to an unexpected place, as fans wondered whether screenwriter Mike White would throw in the ultimate wild card: a delirious monkey!

Repeated shots of wild monkeys in the trees above the Thailand resort, paired with references to how dangerous they can be, fuelled momentum for the outlandish idea – but co-star Monaghan has seemingly put the suggestion to rest.

"You know, I’ve just got to debunk a theory out here," she said during an appearance on US chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live. "Guys, the monkeys did not do it! People have gone ape s**t thinking that."

Quizzed on whether her own character, television star Jaclyn Lemon, could be responsible for the multiple gunshots heard in the flash-forward scene, Monaghan added: "Well, I don’t know. You’ll have to watch. Maybe I go a little bananas. Maybe."

Jaclyn is on a holiday with longtime friends Laurie Duffy (Carrie Coon) and Kate Bohr (Leslie Bibb), but it's fair to say that it hasn't gone exactly to plan so far, with tensions brewing from the moment they arrived at the hotel.

"They're trying to present their best selves, their most perfect lives, [but] then ultimately the thing that can happen quite often is that those comparisons to one's self to others starts coming in," Monaghan told RadioTimes.com.

"As the season progresses, you see that dynamic shift between the characters."

In the same interview, Monaghan teased where the story was ultimately headed – and seemed to promise viewers that they would not be able to predict the events of the season finale.

"I found out when all eight scripts were delivered into my inbox," said the Mission: Impossible alum. "I was on a plane, on a 15-hour flight, and I read all of them – [they were] just such page-turners, of course, just like the show.

"I was just as shocked at the end as everybody else will be shocked watching it. You have no idea – it's the brilliance of Mike White. You have no idea what's coming, it's crazy."

The White Lotus season 3 is available on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

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