'The White Lotus' Season 3: Casting News, Release Date
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 is continuing to expand its global footprint as it heads to Thailand for season three.
The White Lotus series sets each season around a different property within the show’s fictional hotel brand. Season three doesn’t yet have a premiere date, but it has now begun filming as it prepares to follow a new group 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.
Below, The Hollywood Reporter is taking inventory of all of the details around White Lotus season three, and will update this story as more is announced.
Who Is the Cast for Season 3?
The cast for season three is coming together — with one former employee back among the new group of guests and White Lotus staff.
Not only will season one star Natasha Rothwell return, she’ll be reprising her originating role as Belinda Lindsey, the spa manager at the Hawaiian resort who aspired to create her own business and was left with a wad of cash from Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya McQuoid. Rothwell’s return casting follows in the footsteps of double Emmy winner Coolidge, who served as a bridge to the first two seasons of the anthology series when the heiress showed up on the Sicilian coast for season two. (Her story tragically ended, though White and Coolidge haven’t totally ruled out bringing her back in some form.)
Joining Rothwell in season three are franchise newcomers Carrie Coon and Scott Glenn (marking a Leftovers reunion), Walton Goggins, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Blackpink member 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 recasted Miloš Biković, following public criticism in the Ukraine, and replaced him with Julian Kostov.)
In keeping with tradition, all character details are locked in the hotel safe.
Where Is the New Hotel Location?
Season three will be filming in and around Koh Samui, Phuket and Bangkok for The White Lotus‘ Thailand season.
HBO partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to support the filming and production of the season. Seasons one and two were filmed at the Four Seasons hotels in Maui, Hawaii, and Taormina, Sicily, respectively, with both experiencing a tourism bump from 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, top-notch wellness and luxury offerings, and most importantly our people and Thai hospitality,” said Thapanee Kiatphaibool, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, of The White Lotus setting its sights on Thailand. “Thailand has long been considered one of the world’s favorite filming locations. The White Lotus project will certainly strengthen the kingdom’s status as a preferred filming destination and a beacon of experience-based tourism, inspiring even more visitors to amazing Thailand.”
What Has Mike White Teased About Season 3?
The answer: not much!
Both seasons have opened with a shot of an unidentified dead body, setting up a mystery in the background that propels the comedy-satire through its story on class and relationships. The first season highlighted money and the second sex, and creator Mike White has said that the third season will be a “satirical and funny look at death and eastern religion and spirituality.” Something that felt like “a rich tapestry” to do another round at White Lotus.
When the second season finished, White said he could be open to giving viewers more answers from the finale, particularly related to Tanya’s husband, Greg (Jon Gries), and his involvement in the tragic ending. In a later feature with The Hollywood Reporter, he spoke about revisiting other characters (before Rothwell was announced), the show’s pivot from limited series to drama and why he may not open season three with another dead body.
“It would be easy to just be full-on anthology, but I think it’s more fun to have little threads through the show. If the show goes on for a couple of seasons, it would be fun to have an all-star season,” he said. “I don’t think it needs to always be a body [opening the show]. There are so many ways that we want to reinvent the show each year. Like, what is this show — other than people? A fresh mystery, people maybe expect that. But I don’t feel constrained by expectation. It’s fun.”
Coolidge added to THR: “Mike must have some juicy stuff for [Rothwell’s character]. I think that will be the most interesting storyline of all: whatever’s happened to Natasha’s character. But, yeah, I also want to see Greg get it.”
When nearing the end of 2023’s SAG-AFTRA strike and finalizing his scripts, White told EW that season three would be “a supersized” White Lotus — something the cast announcements are bearing out: “It’s going to be longer, bigger, crazier. I don’t know what people will think, but I am super excited, so at least for my own barometer, that’s a good thing … I’m super excited about the content of the season.”
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