‘The White Lotus’ Creator Mike White Teases ‘Crazier’ Season 3: ‘I Don’t Know What People Will Think’
The White Lotus is set to be even wilder when a third round of guests check in.
The creator of the buzzed-about HBO anthology series, Mike White, teased that the upcoming third season will be a next-level version of the show that fans have come to know and love.
"It's going to be a supersized White Lotus," White, 53, told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on Tuesday, November 7. "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."
Production on the dark comedy series has been at a standstill due to the now-resolved WGA strike and SAG strikes. White is hopeful that the third season can begin filming in early 2024.
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"I'm seriously finishing scripts," White told EW. "Still waiting to be able to cast. If the SAG strike isn't resolved soon, then yeah, we'd have to push again because the show has a new cast every season, so there's lots of parts to cast ... I'm more than eager to get going."
It’s previously been confirmed that the third season of The White Lotus will take place in Thailand (season 1 was set in Hawaii, and season 2 in Sicily). After the second season’s December 2022 finale, White revealed in HBO Max’s Unpacking S2 E7 special that the third installment may focus on “death and Eastern religion and spirituality.”
“The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” he said. “I think the third season would be maybe a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality. It feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus.”
Though Jennifer Coolidge’s Emmy-winning portrayal of Tanya McQuoid became a fan favorite, the character met her fate in the season 2 finale. In the aforementioned special, White explained why he had Tanya return for season 2 only to ultimately kill her off.
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“I was thinking, it’d be so fun to bring Tanya back because she’s such a great character, but maybe that’s the journey for her, a journey to death,” he said. “Not that I really wanted to kill Tanya because I love her as a character and obviously love Jennifer, but I just felt like, we’re going to Italy, she’s such a diva — a larger than life female archetype — it felt like we could devise our own operatic conclusion to Tanya’s life and her story.”
Due to the anthology style of the show, season 3 will likely feature an all-new cast, but in April, Variety reported that Natasha Rothwell, who played spa manager Belinda in season 1, will return for the third installment. It hasn’t been announced whether ’r she'll be reprising that role or appearing as a new character.
