The White Lotus welcomed a new guest, but he checked in all on his own.

Although Leslie Bibb, who plays Kate Bohr on season three of the HBO show, has been dating partner Sam Rockwell since 2007, the Palm Royale actress confessed she had nothing to do with the Oscar winner’s surprise cameo on the March 16 episode.

“No, they came to me and they were like, ‘We’re going to offer this to Sam,'” Leslie told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published March 17. “I was on the treadmill and [producer] Dave Bernad came to me.”

But given his busy schedule, she warned the show’s creative team that Sam may not be free to join the cast’s trek to Thailand.

“I was like, ‘Sam is wild as a buck,’” she continued. “‘I don’t know what he’s going to do. He’s doing a movie in South Africa, he likes time to prep.’ And he was very nervous about that prep time.”

Leslie even petitioned White Lotus creator Mike White that he “can’t get mad at me if he says no.” But clearly Sam signed on to play Frank, much to Leslie’s delight.