• The latest episode of "SNL" saw Trump world meet "The White Lotus."
• James Austin Johnson returned as Trump, parodying Jason Isaac's beleaguered financier from the HBO show.
• The spoof seems to have been a hit with fans, with many calling it the shows funniest skit in some time.

"Saturday Night Live" continued to roast key White House figures in this weekend's episode, which saw President Donald Trump and his inner circle checking in to the "The White Lotus."

Retitled "The White POTUS," James Austin Johnson returned as the US president, parodying Jason Isaac's beleaguered financier from the HBO show.

In the wake of the real president's tariff announcements — which have sparked chaos in global financial markets — Johnson's caricature of Trump is seen numbing his pain with a prescription bottle of chicken nuggets and threatening to shoot Uncle Sam himself (Andrew Dismukes).

As Johnson's Trump fights an existential crisis at the breakfast table (Chloe Fineman), playing his wife Melania but embodying Parker Posey's iconic character from the show, asks: "Can you imagine how awful it would if America lost all its money and no one respected us anymore?"

"You would never let our economy go to pieces, right, hon?" she continues, as Johnson's Trump's phone pings with a news flash about a tariffs-induced recession.

The pre-taped sketch also saw Mikey Day play Trump Jr., Alex Moffat as Eric Trump, and Scarlett Johansson as Ivanka Trump.

In line with her "White Lotus" counterpart, Johansson's Ivanka is seen seeking spiritual enlightenment, only to change her mind when she's told: "You must ask yourself: 'Am I ready to give up greed and material possessions in order to lead an honest and ethical life?'"

Elsewhere, Beck Bennett returned as a shirtless Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kenan Thompson appeared as Tiger Woods, and the episode's celebrity host Jon Hamm portrayed RFK Jr.

The star-studded lineup also featured a brief appearance from musical guest Lizzo, who played a disgruntled American who realized their savings had tanked.

"Oh, my God, there's $5 million in my bank account," she said. "It was 20 million last week."

The skit seems to have been a hit with fans, with some on social media lauding it as one of the best sketches the show has done in some time.

"'The White Potus' is the most brilliant and well-done satire SNL has done this century," one X user wrote.

"Gonna need at least 10 seasons of this," another said.

"The White Potus is the funniest thing Saturday Night Live has done in years," a third added.

Earlier in the episode, Johnson's Trump was also the focus of an Easter-themed cold open, which began by dramatizing the bible story of Jesus (played by Mikey Day) casting moneylenders out of the temple on his arrival in Jerusalem.

"Remind you of anyone?" Johnson's Trump said, interrupting the sequence. "I also got rid of money last week, but instead of one temple, I did a whole country. Maybe even the globe. The money's gone."

"Hi, it's me, your favorite president, Donald Jesus Trump, comparing myself to the son of God once again," he continued. "Many people are even calling me the Messiah because of the mess I, uh, made out of the economy, all because of my beautiful tariffs."

• Jason Isaacs portrayed Lucius Malfoy in the "Harry Potter" movie series from 2002 to 2011.
• Isaacs told BI that he doesn't see Malfoy as a stereotypical villain because his evil is realistic.
• "He's a guy that believes when old, white, rich people like him ruled the world… it was better."

Over two decades before Jason Isaacs had "The White Lotus" viewers meme-ing, debating, and dissecting his performance as Timothy Ratliff in season three, he played Lucius Malfoy — whom he called "an old-fashioned racist" — in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets."

Isaacs, 61, has famously played several villainous characters, and his latest turn in "The White Lotus" shares parallels with his celebrated performance in "Harry Potter." Both Ratliff and Malfoy are deeply flawed patriarchal figures whose families are mired in wealth, power, and an overinflated sense of self-importance.

However, Isaacs said he wouldn't characterize any of his characters as classic storybook "villains" because their motivations are realistic — and, in the case of Malfoy, rooted in historical precedent.

"I take parts when I go, 'That's a human being.' Lucius is an old-fashioned racist and he's trying to make Hogwarts great again," Isaacs told Business Insider, alluding to President Donald Trump's slogan, "Make America Great Again."

"He's a guy that believes when old, white, rich people like him ruled the world — wizards with 'pure' wizarding blood — it was better," Isaacs continued. "The great American industrialists at the turn of the 20th century were all eugenicists. They didn't think they were villains."

In the "Harry Potter" series, Malfoy is among the loyal followers of Lord Voldemort, a group known as Death Eaters. Over the years, many readers and book critics have noted the group's parallels with the Nazi party, connecting Voldemort's oppression of non-magical people ("muggles") and wizards with mixed parentage ("half-bloods") with Adolf Hitler's antisemitic, white supremacist doctrine.

Alongside Alan Rickman as Severus Snape, Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange, and Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort, Isaacs' Malfoy is among the most memorably sinister presences in the "Harry Potter" series, which wrapped with "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" in 2011.

Isaacs, who was raised Jewish in Liverpool, England, said he nearly passed on the beloved franchise because he was already committed to playing Captain Hook in P.J. Hogan's live-action "Peter Pan."

Isaacs had originally auditioned for Gilderoy Lockhart, a handsome narcissist who only appears in the second "Harry Potter" film, but was offered Malfoy instead. Though Isaacs was hesitant to play two "children's villains" in a row, his family members persuaded him to take the role — much to his relief, in retrospect.

"It was a joy because every couple of years, I'd go to 'Harry Potter' land for a month or two months. I wasn't on it very much. I was doing many television series and films in between," Isaacs said. "It was like going back to a holiday resort, seeing your old friends. It was a joy."

Malfoy will soon be re-cast for HBO's forthcoming "Harry Potter" reboot, which will reimagine the classic movie series as a TV show.

Though Isaacs admitted it'll be "weird" for the original actors to see new versions of their characters onscreen, he said he's made peace with Hollywood's cyclical nature.

"My kids don't know that Tobey Maguire was Spider-Man or even Andrew Garfield. For them, it's Tom Holland," he explained. "Roger Moore was my Bond."

"Everyone's got their own person. This new 'Harry Potter' will be for the new generation that will watch it," he continued, adding: "Such is life. We've had a good run."

Read BI's full Role Play interview with Jason Isaacs here.

• "The White Lotus" creator Mike White said he pulled a "stealth move" to get fans to fall for Chelsea and Rick.
• It worked, Chelsea and Rick became two of the fan favorite characters of the season.
• White said the duo was inspired by age-gap couples he saw in Thailand.

Warning: spoilers ahead for the season three finale of "The White Lotus."

Chelsea and Rick are among the fan-favorite characters of "The White Lotus" season three, and the show's creator Mike White said this was by design.

The couple, played by 31-year-old Aimee Lou Wood and 53-year-old Walton Goggins, seem like a poor match when they arrive at the White Lotus resort in Thailand together due to their big age gap, Chelsea's naive outlook on life, and Rick's dismissive attitude toward her.

On Sunday's episode of "The White Lotus Official Podcast," White said Chelsea and Rick were inspired by the age-gap couples he met in Thailand.

"I got on an elevator, and there was this older guy, and the young girl was very hot, and you know, boobs all pushed up. She was showing him some runway photos or something, and you could just tell he could not give a shit. She was just living in her reality," White said. "I was like, it'd be fun to have this kind of relationship where it feels like he's probably in it for the sex, but it's almost not worth it."

Age-gap relationships are having a moment in pop culture with films like "The Idea of You," "Babygirl," and "Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy" featuring romances between older women and younger men.

However, in 2022, the Pew Research Center, citing US Census Bureau data, said that the percentage of opposite-sex marriages in which the husband or wife is three or more years older is declining, which could suggest that people are moving away from long-term age gap relationships.

The percentage of older husbands decreased from 43% in 2000 to 40% in 2022, while the percentage of older women went down from 11% to 10% in the same timeframe.

Mike White said he wanted viewers to root for Chelsea and Rick

White said he wanted to surprise the audience by making them fall for Chelsea and Rick.

"I was just like, it'd be interesting to do kind of a stealth move where ultimately you suddenly find yourself really rooting for this couple, and you love them and have her be this kind of woo-woo and into astrology," White said.

As Rick slowly opens up to Chelsea, fans too warmed to the couple — which made the season three finale even more tragic.

Rick has a secret agenda for being in Thailand, confronting his father's killer. But when he carries out the plan in the finale, it backfires and Chelsea is killed. As he tries to carry her away, Rick is shot, too, and they both fall into the nearby water and bleed out.

Fans were split over the ending, with some blaming Rick for Chelsea's death, while others were sad the couple died after making a deeper connection.

White said of Rick and Chelsea's death on the podcast: "There's something that feels a little like a hint to a life beyond, that love transcends this life. Even as they're wheeled out to the plane together in their symmetrical coffins, their love transcends this in some bittersweet way."

• Season three of "The White Lotus" came to a dramatic end on Sunday night.
• The internet is alight with memes about the show, including reactions to the Ratliffs.
• We've rounded them up — but beware, there are spoilers below.

Another season of "The White Lotus" draws to a close.

The finale of season three of the hit HBO show was full of confrontation: Rick again came face to face with Jim, against whom he's held a lifelong vendetta; the three American friends on vacation sat down for one final dinner and bared their souls to each other; and Timothy Ratliff weighed what to do with his family's lives as he teeters on the brink of financial and reputational ruin.

We've rounded up some of the best reactions we've seen on the internet so far.

Fans were upset that Chelsea died

All season, two questions dominated: Who gets killed, and who does the killing? One wild fan theory floating around suggested that the monkeys were the killers.

Episode eight showed us that — thankfully — was not the case.

The main killer turned out to be Rick (Walton Goggins). He shot Jim, believing he killed his father, then got into a shootout with the resot security guards. Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) got killed in the crossfire, and Rick was shot as she died in his arms.

Fans were quick to share their outrage over Chelsea's death and Rick's behavior.

Fans loved Parker Posey's wealthy and unfiltered Victoria so much, one held a prayer circle using lorazepam, her drug of choice, as candles.

Fans began joked about one clip of Laurie running

When the shooting began, guests started running. Fans were amused by how quickly Laurie (Carrie Coon) got out of the situation, leaving her friends behind.

People want to see more of the Ratliffs

At the end of season three, the Ratliff family sails away with Timothy, the patriarch, never telling them they're in financial ruin. There is a brief moment where the family gets back on their phones and seems to learned out the truth, but the series doesn't stick around to show their full reaction.

Fans were annoyed by this cliffhanger and wanted the Ratliffs to return for future seasons.

Fans were divided over Belinda's ending

Belinda and her son Zion get to sail away from the resort in style on a private speed boat, thanks to $5 million of blood money she's just come into. As she pulls away from shore, we see Pornchai — with whom she had made plans to open a spa together — waving goodbye.

Fans on Twitter were quick to point out that the moment comes full circle from season one when Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) abandoned Belinda and their dream of opening a spa together.

Not all fans were upset by the betrayal, and cheered Belinda for finally becoming rich.