Natasha Rothwell Opens Up About 'The White Lotus' Season 3, 'How to Die Alone' & More

PureWow: You're the creator, writer and star of Hulu's How to Die Alone, what's it like to have so much creative control?

Natasha Rothwell: I think that the thing that surprised me the most in creating my own show in the process was, I felt like every decision and every job I had up until that point prepared me for this opportunity. And I think rather than the approach of wearing so many hats [or feeling] overwhelmed, it was just pure excitement. It was walking into a dream that I was trying to manifest since I was doing plays at my parents' church when I was 10. And so, to be at a place where I was able to express this show that I worked on for seven and a half years before it got made, I couldn't look at the weight of producing, show running and writing and starring...It didn't feel like a weight. It felt like, 'This is the moment.'

PW: What do you find most rewarding about working on this series?

NR: The rewarding part of this is so much of the feedback that I've gotten, you know, in DMs, on social media, in person, it's a lot of women, particularly Black women, that feel seen. And I think we forget how powerful representation can be. And I think it's life-changing to be able to see yourself represented. And that, to me, has been so incredibly rewarding to give other women of color the thing I was always seeking when I was growing up. It feels really great to insert someone who looks like me into the narrative of Hollywood television and film. 

PW: One of the things I love about this show is how it distinguishes between being alone and feeling lonely. I love that Melissa is on this journey of self-acceptance and shifting where the source of her joy and contentment comes from. How has that journey looked for you? 

NR: So much of me is in the show, in every character. In the Venn diagram of Mel and myself, I wouldn't say there's a complete overlap, but I would say that she really embodies the issues that I was trying to work through in therapy in my early 20s, and really tried to disabuse myself of the notion that I needed to find a man to get happy. I needed to, you know, have romantic love, because that was the most important kind of love of all. And I think to write a show where you have a character that is trying to unlearn that, that's trying to fall in love with herself, that's trying to recognize that there is no hierarchy of love.

PW: Speaking of Mel, I couldn't help but notice a few similarities between her character and Belinda from The White Lotus, in terms of how the world sees them and how they're often sidelined. Would you say that there are bits of Mel in Belinda's character?

NR: I think they're both in service industries that primarily cater to a white demographic. And I think that one of the things that I love to do and the characters that I choose to perform and take on, is centering marginalized voices. And I think outside of that, the stories are so different. But I think, fundamentally, what people are noticing is that, 'Oh, I'm seeing a character I don't usually get to see. I'm hearing a character I don't usually get to hear.' And to me, that speaks to our humanity as people of color.

I think being able to show a character like Mel, who's usually relegated to the periphery center frame and is messy, and is chasing her dreams, and is doing her best. I think that gives the audience someone to root for. And that's the same with Belinda.

PW: I couldn't agree more—and I'm so excited to see Belinda return in season three of The White Lotus. What was it like to return to the set? 

NR: Carrie Coon, who's on the show as well, we chatted before we started shooting, and she gave me the best metaphor. She's just like, you know, returning to a character again, it's like putting on a wet bathing suit. You're like, 'This feels weird, but I know it fits, and it's gonna feel great once I get in the water.' And that's exactly how it felt. It had been so long since I was Belinda on set, and the circumstances were so different because we shot the original season one, mid-COVID, pre-vaccination. It was when we were locked down, and so to be two seasons later, where it's like, I was in Thailand for five months, and we shot [How to Die Alone] all over the country and people weren't wearing masks and didn't have to get 18 tests today. So, it definitely was a different, new experience that made me a little bit tentative. But the moment I put Belinda on and got on set, I was like, 'Ah, there she is.'

PW: Could you tell us a bit about your partnership with Claritin?

NR: Yes, when approached to partner with Claritin it was kind of a no-brainer, and the entry point tugged at my heartstrings because the first event was in Wichita, Kansas, and that's where I was born. It just turns out that Wichita also happens to be the number one allergy capital in the United States, and so it was really cool to sort of go back there...to be back home, as it were, and handing out Claritin and doing that initiative, I think was kind of a full circle moment.

All eight episodes of How to Die Alone are now available to stream on Hulu.

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