After welcoming viewers first to The White Lotus: Hawaii and then to The White Lotus: Sicily, The hotel chain at the center of Mike White’s Emmy-winning HBO series continues to expand its global presence and heads to Thailand for a third season.
The White Lotus The series sets each season around a different property within the show’s fictional hotel brand. The third season doesn’t yet have a release date, but it has begun filming, as it prepares to follow a new set of guests and staff, with at least one familiar face.
Created, written and directed by White, the season is executive produced by White, David Bernad and Mark Kamine.
Under, The Hollywood Reporter is taking inventory of all the details around White Lotus third season.
This story was originally published in February and will be updated as more news is announced.
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Who is in the cast of season 3?
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The third season's cast is star-studded, with new guests and White Lotus staff including a former employee.
Not only will season one star Natasha Rothwell return, but she'll also reprise her original role as Belinda Lindsey, the Hawaiian resort spa director who aspired to start her own business and found herself with a wad of cash from Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya McQuoid. “When Jackie Strause Mike White was finishing the second season, he asked me to have dinner with him. I didn't think much of it,” Rothwell said recently DAY of his return. “But he was already thinking about season three and wanted to explore it more. I told him I would follow him anywhere, and I meant it. I didn't know where it was filming or the story, it was just a yes.”
Rothwell’s return to the cast follows in the footsteps of two-time Emmy winner Coolidge, who bridged the first two seasons of the anthology series when the heiress showed up on the Sicilian coast for season two. Her story ended tragically, however, and while White and Coolidge aren’t entirely ruling out bringing her back in some capacity, Coolidge said more recently that she won’t be a part of season three: “When they kill you, you have to accept it.”
Joining Rothwell in season three are franchise newcomers Carrie Coon and Scott Glenn (marking a Leftovers reunion), Walton Goggins (who recently said the offer made him cry), Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Lisa (credited as Lalisa Manobal), Dom Hetrakul, Jason Isaacs, Tayme Thapthimthong, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood, Nicholas Duvernay, Francesca Corney, Arnas Fedaravičius, Christian Friedel, Morgana O'Reilly, Lek Patravadi, and Shalini Peiris. (HBO replaced Miloš Biković, following public criticism in Ukraine, with Julian Kostov.)
As per tradition, all the details of the characters are kept in the hotel safe.
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Where is the new hotel located?
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The third season will be filmed in and around Koh Samui, Phuket and Bangkok. The White LotusThai season.
HBO partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to support the filming and production of the season. Seasons 1 and 2 were filmed at the Four Seasons hotels in Maui, Hawaii, and Taormina, Sicily, respectively, and both saw a surge in tourism due to the show.
“The Kingdom's exotic natural beauty, rich historical sites and diverse landscapes are the perfect settings to share our fascinating culture, fantastic cuisine, world-class wellness and luxury offerings and, most importantly, our Thai people and hospitality,” said Thapanee Kiatphaibool, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, The White Lotus focusing on Thailand. “Thailand has long been considered one of the world's favorite filming locations. The White Lotus “The project will certainly strengthen the kingdom’s status as a favorite film destination and a hub for experiential tourism, inspiring even more visitors to beautiful Thailand.”
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What did Mike White tease about season 3?
Image Credit: Stefano Delia/HBO
The answer: not much!
Both seasons opened with a shot of an unidentified corpse, creating a mystery in the background that propels the comedy-satire through its story about class and relationships. The first season highlighted money and the second sex, and creator Mike White said the third season would be a “fun, satirical look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality.” It felt like “a rich tapestry” for White Lotus to take another spin on.
When season two ended, White said he might have been open to giving viewers more answers from the finale, particularly in relation to Tanya's husband, Greg (Jon Gries), and his involvement in the tragic ending. In a subsequent article with The Hollywood Reportertalked about returning characters (prior to Rothwell's announcement), the series' transition from limited series to drama, and why it might not open season three with another dead body.
“It would be easy to just be a full anthology, but I think it's more fun to have little threads throughout the show. If the show goes on for a couple seasons, it would be fun to have an all-star season,” he said. “I don't think it always has to be one body. [opening the show]. There are so many ways we want to reinvent the show every year. Like, what is this show, other than people? A fresh mystery, maybe people expect that. But I don't feel limited by expectations. It's fun.”
Coolidge added to DAY: “Mike must have some juicy stuff for [Rothwell’s character]. I think that's going to be the most interesting storyline of all: whatever happened to Natasha's character. But yeah, I also want to see Greg figure it out.”
As the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike neared its end and he was finishing up his scripts, White said EW that the third season would be “supersized” White Lotus — something the cast announcements are confirming: “It's going to be longer, it's going to be bigger, it's going to be crazier. I don't know what people are going to think, but I'm super excited, so at least in my barometer, it's a good thing… I'm super excited about the content of the season.”