Walton Goggins is reinventing the modern leading man

From "The White Lotus" to "The Righteous Gemstones," Walton Goggins is everywhere. That's still not enough.

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One of the hottest actors working now has a receding hairline, too-big teeth and an unforgettable name: Walton Goggins.

The 53-year-old Georgia native has been an actor for years, first making a name for himself in shows like The Shield and Sons of Anarchy. His major breakout moment came when he starred in Fallout, The White Lotus and The Righteous Gemstones within roughly a year, becoming a staple in prestige television.

“I'd love to work with Goggins … he’s incredible. That guy’s been cooking for a long time,” Brendan Sklenar, who starred in the horror movie Drop, told Yahoo Entertainment shortly after the final episode of The White Lotus aired. “I think everyone wants to work with Walton Goggins right now,” his costar Meghann Fahy added.

We’ll be seeing plenty more of Goggins as he enters Emmy campaign season, hosts Saturday Night Live and promotes The Uninvited, a new movie now in theaters, and that’s great news for his fans. Claudia Hernandez, an associate communications director and longtime fan, told Yahoo Entertainment that she’s been rooting for Goggins since his run on FX's Sons of Anarchy.

“People try to qualify his draw by pointing out his ‘atypical’ features for a leading man — we’re confused as to why we’re so drawn to him, but magic defies logic. I think that’s evident in the explosion of his fanbase post-White Lotus,” she said. “He’s not playing a flashy character in that show — he’s actually kind of a rude buzzkill … yet people were still drawn to him in spades. I’m not sure that would’ve happened had another actor had that role.”

In The White Lotus, Goggins plays the grumpy Rick Hatchett, who is mysteriously focused on vengeance and neglecting his much younger girlfriend. On The Righteous Gemstones, he plays an over-the-top, cocaine-addicted religious entertainment mogul named Uncle Baby Billy. They’re very different roles, but both tap into Goggins’s now-signature charisma.

Walton Goggins in The Righteous Gemstones. (Courtesy of HBO)

“I think this versatility is what makes him so compelling, because it has to come from such a secure place internally, and he can relay that versatility in a show or an interview or even a photo shoot,” Hernandez said. “It’s a magnetism that can’t be faked — true to Scorpio fashion.”

The key to that versatility might just be confidence. White Lotus star Patrick Schwarzenegger told Interview magazine about Goggins’s response when he asked him on set if he still gets nervous.

“And [Goggins] was just like, ‘Yeah, I get nervous.’ And then, he kind of put his finger on my chest and said, ‘But, I never f***ing question that I’m the right actor for this job, and I never f***ing question my process and that I can go out there and crush it.’” Schwarzenegger said. “And I was like, ‘Wow.’ He was like, ‘It’s totally fine to get nervous, but you have to have the confidence that you’ve done your work and were picked for the right reason.’”

Since Goggins’s star has risen, headlines about his receding hairline and oversized teeth have attempted to explain why viewers have gone so gaga for him as he subverts typical Hollywood beauty standards.

Kirsten Tretbar, a therapist, told Yahoo Entertainment that she used to be an acting teacher who helped students figure out their “type” so they’d know “how to best portray themselves in front of casting directors.”

“I would say that Goggins's strength comes out of the contradictions his face and body represent. He looks and feels, both scary and sad, strong and fragile, cruel and misunderstood, intelligent and angry,” she said. “He has a combination of very castable traits, which make him a heartbreaking, fascinating villain, someone you want to run from,and someone you'd also like to rescue.”

Daren Banarsë, a therapist, told Yahoo Entertainment that Goggins's distinctive smile and hairline have become “signature elements of his appeal.” In Banarsë’s work with clients struggling with body image and self-acceptance, he often references cultural figures like Goggins who demonstrate how “embracing one's distinctive features can become a superpower rather than a limitation.”

“These characteristics serve as honest markers of individuality in an era where polished perfection can read as inauthentic,” he said. “There's something deeply refreshing about someone who owns their uniqueness rather than attempting to conceal it.”

Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins in The White Lotus. (Fabio Lovino/HBO)

Banarsë said that the intensity of someone’s perspective can override our programmed beauty preferences.

“Our brains are wired to respond to confidence and authenticity as indicators of psychological security — traits that, evolutionarily speaking, signal reliability and strength of character,” he said. “When someone projects complete comfort in their own skin, we intuitively recognize and respond to that self-assurance.”

He’s known to be open-hearted and intense — he’s romantic about his big moment finally coming and open about how emotional it was to immerse himself in a role in Thailand, where he went after his first wife died about 20 years ago. That intensity was on display when rumored drama between Goggins and his The White Lotus onscreen girlfriend, Aimee Lou Wood, began to spread.

“What in the Fleetwood Mac Hell Is Going on Between Aimee Lou Wood and Walton Goggins?” Vogue’s Emma Specter wrote in April, and speculation of a close relationship that dissolved into a feud has only grown since then.

Even as their White Lotus castmate Jason Isaacs continued fueling rumors about on-set drama, Goggins called Wood his “soulmate” and said that they became “enmeshed.” Whatever was happening while filming, Goggins seemed to be in the middle of it, adding to his intrigue. He recently shut down a reporter who probed him about his relationship with Wood, directing the conversation back to the film that his wife wrote and directed and he starred in. Affair allegations are at odds with his “wife guy” persona, but they come at a time when people are more starved for classic Hollywood drama.

Another element that adds to Goggins’s appeal is the deluge of thirsty photo shoots he’s participated in over the past year, from Speedo-clad poses in Cultured magazine and the western imagery of Man About Town to a seemingly random shirtless portrait shoot and the shirtless horseback riding of GQ. And let’s not forget the multiple instances of full-frontal nudity on The Righteous Gemstones.

He has a propensity for virality, whether it's a clip from one of his onscreen performances, selling “Goggins Goggle Glasses,” singing along to Radiohead or giving a tour of his house. It puts his versatility on display — and makes him familiar to us, which only increases his attractiveness.

His most viral moments have been either fully ridiculous — like Uncle Baby Billy in The Righteous Gemstones performing as a teenage Jesus, or stoic in the face of ridiculousness, like his wide-eyed response to Sam Rockwell’s monologue in The White Lotus. He’s said that he manages his own social media accounts, which adds to the charming authenticity of his posts.

Carolina Estevez, a psychologist, told Yahoo Entertainment that the “exposure” effect is at play here, because people tend to “develop stronger preferences for people we see frequently.”

“Goggins is everywhere right now, and every role he plays reinforces his persona: intense, unapologetic and compelling. That repetition builds familiarity, which can deepen our sense of connection to him,” she said. “And don’t underestimate the power of voice. A deep, raspy voice with a Southern twang adds a sensory layer to his appeal — it is not just what he says but how he says it that makes an impression.”

People find him compelling not just because of the way he looks or sounds, though that certainly helps, especially as we become more familiar with him. They’re responding to how he makes them feel, Estevez explained.

“He does not shy away from his unique look or tone; he embraces it, and that boldness resonates,” she said. “This is a classic example of what psychology calls the ‘pratfall effect,’ where a person’s flaws or quirks can make them even more appealing when paired with competence or charisma.”

Lauren Badillo Milici, a writer, has interviewed Goggins twice. She praised his “effortlessly cool-guy vibe.”

“He’s funny, he’s excited about everything he does, and he has this crazy confidence — kind of like a cowboy in Old Hollywood westerns,” she said.

Her favorite Goggins moment is a clip from Vice Principals, in which his character, who is tripping on acid, hallucinates a demon goat. He turns around shocked, then “mugs the camera.”

“The fact that he just absolutely serves instead of showing fear just encapsulates his entire aura, I think,” Milici said. “He’s one of those actors where I’m just glad we get to live in a world where he makes stuff. Having 100-plus credits and then hitting your big career peak in your 50s is crazy — and just shows you that we ain’t seen nothing yet.”

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