Spoilers below.

If The White Lotus’s season three finale didn’t already have you in tears, Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins’s tributes certainly will. Following Sunday night’s explosive episode, the co-stars and onscreen couple shared sentimental messages about their characters, Chelsea and Rick, as they looked back on an emotional season.

Let’s dive deeper into spoiler territory now: This week’s hour-and-a-half episode brought a tragic ending to the lovers’ romance as Rick’s desire for revenge takes a bloody turn. He shoots and kills the hotel owner Jim Hollinger, which launches a shootout between himself and the Hollingers’ body guards, and Chelsea gets caught in the crossfire. In the end, security guard Gaitok shoots Rick down to defend his boss.

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As audiences reeled from those final moments, Wood shared a photo on Instagram of graffiti that read, 'I love you. R+C Forever.' (A short but sweet nod to Rick and Chelsea.) She explained in her Instagram caption, 'I only went home once whilst filming White Lotus. This is what I saw on the first day back there. R and C forever 💘'

Goggins, meanwhile, shared a slideshow of himself and Wood behind the scenes of The White Lotus. He wrote a lengthy message about Chelsea and Rick:

'With the heaviest of hearts… To me, ours was a love story. It was only ever a love story, hindered by unresolved, childhood trauma. We all have them… but can we move past them. In the depths of our despair there is always beauty around us. If we can sit with our pain, just sit with it… not react… not be defined by it…It’s there… the love the world is constantly giving in any given moment is there. Always waiting for us to see it… Trust me I know.'

He went on to thank showrunner Mike White for 'your imagination, your tender heart, for the privilege of giving us the opportunity to tell it.' And of course, he thanked Wood 'for being my partner… a journey I will never forget.'

The hints about Rick and Chelsea’s deaths were there all along, from Chelsea’s ominous jewellery choices to the episode’s title, 'Amor Fati,' a Latin phrase meaning to love one’s fate, no matter if it’s good or bad. But that didn’t make it hurt any less.

If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that Chelsea’s love for Rick was the real thing. Wood even spoke to ELLE US about how playing the character influenced how she viewed the couple’s on-screen romance.

'I’ve still got Chelsea goggles on,' she said. 'I’ve been doing press and people have been going, "The age gap." And I’m like, "Oh yeah, there’s an age gap. I forgot that." And then they’re saying, "What does she see in Rick? She’s giving her power and her light away so much." And I’m like, "No. Rick is my soulmate. He’s amazing!" I just completely bought into Chelsea’s frame of mind, which is that it simply doesn’t matter because they’re soulmates. Whether it’s a 22-year difference or not, it doesn’t matter.'


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From: ELLE US
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Erica Gonzales
Deputy Editor, Culture

Erica Gonzales is the Deputy Editor, Culture at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.