[This story contains major spoilers from The White Lotus season three, episode seven, Killer Instincts.]

It may have taken almost his entire vacation, but Rick Hatchett finally relaxed during Sundays episode of The White Lotus. For Walton Goggins, the wait was considerably longer. The apparent culmination of his antiheros journey wasnt filmed until almost the very end of the Thailand shoot, and the relief on his face at the end of the episode is as much his own as it is Ricks.

It took me six months and seven hours of this experience to smile, to really smile, Goggins tells The Hollywood Reporter of the penultimate episode of season three. Its not joy, but theres contentment or peace for a moment. Other actors wouldve arrived at that in very different way and lived their life. Goggins has not been shy about how difficult the White Lotus shoot was for him. Ricks reasons for being so surly werent revealed until the season was half-way done. It takes until episode four for the audience to really understand the motivations for this guy, where everybody elses motivations are pretty clear in episode one, he says. There were so many ways in which this guy could have been marginalized right out of the gate.

His motivations were, of course, revenge. Rick revealed to girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) in that fourth episode that his father, dead before he was even born, had been killed in Thailand by a developer one who happened to own the Koh Samui White Lotus location with his magnetic wife played by Lek Patravadi.

But if Jim (played by new castmember Scott Glenn) ends up being part of the still-untallied body count in this third season, it doesnt look like it will be by Ricks hands. Their showdown ended not with a gunshot but a gingerly toppled desk chair, when Rick decided to, well, bury the hatchet.

I read all the scripts and I knew what it would take in order to get to that moment, it was all building towards that, says Goggins. I didnt know exactly how that conversation was going to play out with Scott. We didnt talk about it a lot. But there was one take in particular that he did three or four times. I didnt talk for a minute. I just thought about what it must be like to be obsessed with one person your whole life, not taking out the fact that you think that hes ruined your life, and to finally have an audience with this person. That moment is used in the episode.

He continues, Ricks Just a lost boy, isnt he? Hes just looking for answers as much as hes looking for revenge. And when he saw [Jim] for who he was, all of the pain and all of the power that this man had over him was gone. There was no boogeyman in the closet anymore.

True to the indulgent spirit of The White Lotus, the abandoned revenge killing is followed by a Bangkok bender with Sam Rockwells Frank falling off the wagon in spectacular fashion, just two episodes after delivering a candid monologue about his colorful journey to sobriety. And while Frank really lives it up, its Rick who looks happiest with the events of the day.

As an actor, all of a sudden, 10,000 pounds lifted off of my shoulders, says Goggins, whos been friends with Rockwell off camera for years. That smile was so genuine. It was real. And getting to go through that experience with Sam was arguably one of the great times of my life.

The White Lotusseason three will release its season three finale Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO and Max.Follow along withTHRs season coverage and interviews.