The last day has drummed up a whirlwind of emotions for Meghann Fahy fans. Mere hours after the 32-year-old actor delivered another rousing performance in “The White Lotus” season two finale, she was excluded from the 2023 Golden Globes nominations announced on Dec. 12. Although the HBO show wound up earning four total nods – three for supporting actors Jennifer Coolidge, Aubrey Plaza, and F. Murray Abraham and a fourth for the series as a whole – Fahy’s snub especially stings following her final bow as Daphne Sullivan.
In the sophomore season of “The White Lotus,” Fahy portrays the Aperol Spritz-swigging, PDA-showing, edible-consuming, “Ted Lasso“-binging wife to finance bro Cameron (Theo James). On the surface, Daphne’s a rich, breezy housewife unaffected by worldly woes – so much so that she can’t even recall whether she voted in the last election – but strip away those Pucci bikinis and floral sundresses, and she’s much more complex. Fahy brings those complexities to life with the utmost care, packing in the emotion with her line delivery and facial expressions.
We start to see glimmers of Daphne’s depth in episode three when she whisks Harper (Plaza) away to Noto, where they stay in a spacious palazzo she sneakily rents out for the night. She and Harper have a heart-to-heart where she admits that Cameron has cheated on her and shares her coping mechanism: doing whatever the hell she wants. “I’m not a victim,” she says matter of factly while lounging on a plush couch. Two episodes later, she hints that she’s mirrored Cameron’s infidelity by potentially having a child with her attractive fitness trainer.
In the seventh and final episode, we see Daphne’s bubbly facade momentarily pop again during Fahy’s most standout scene of the season. When Ethan (Will Sharpe) approaches her with concerns that Harper and Cameron hooked up, her eyes silently display a dizzying array of emotions in a matter of seconds – shock, sorrow, disappointment, desire for payback – before she finally declares, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” Slipping right back into Daphne’s signature nonchalance, she airily adds, “I’m a mystery to myself. Honestly, I surprise myself all the time.” It’s clear Daphne’s on a mission to enjoy her Sicilian resort getaway, cheating husband be damned.
Of course, “The White Lotus” isn’t Fahy’s first time commanding attention on screen – she previously starred in Freeform’s “The Bold Type,” the daytime soap opera “One Life to Live,” and the Hallmark Channel movie “Just Add Romance.” To date, her biggest award show nod includes a Teen Choice Award nomination for choice summer TV actor. She’s yet to address her recent Golden Globes snub, but based on a recent interview with Harper’s Bazaar, we have a feeling she’s just as unbothered as Daphne. “I don’t have big dreams of winning fancy awards or being a famous person. I just love making things,” she told the publication for its December issue.
Still, Fahy fans are decidedly displeased about her snub. A plethora of screenshots from the finale are currently flooding Twitter alongside passionate messages about her incredible performance on the show. “Meghann Fahy is SUCH a good actor. these 30 seconds of Daphne processing her husband’s affair (and then calculating how she’s gonna get back at him) are perfection,” one viewer wrote alongside a video of her character’s aforementioned conversation with Ethan. Another Twitter user added, “meghann fahy deserves to be cast in everything after her performance as daphne in white lotus season 2, but in particular because of this absolutely brilliant, devastating, and subtle acting moment right here.” Perhaps Fahy will reappear in “The White Lotus” season three and finally get the award season flowers she deserves.