What is a vacation without an existential crisis?
“The White Lotus” is back for Season 3 with tears, sex, death (another murder, perhaps?), and all. The star-studded anthology series stars Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, and returning actress Natasha Rothwell.
The ensemble also includes Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sam Nivola, Lek Patravadi, Sarah Catherine Hook, Jason Isaacs, Lalisa Manobal, Tayme Thapthimthong, Aimee Lou Wood, Nicholas Duvernay, Arnas Fedaravičius, Christian Friedel, Scott Glenn, Dom Hetrakul, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Julian Kostov, Charlotte Le Bon, Morgana O’Reilly, and Shalini Peiris.
The eight-episode third season hails from showrunner Mike White. The official logline reads: “The social satire is set at an exclusive Thai resort and follows the exploits of various guests and employees over the span of a week.”
Season 3 is created, written, and directed by White, who also is executive producing alongside David Bernad and Mark Kamine.
The Thai setting for Season 3 was due to White being wooed by a $4.4 million tax rebate, according to Japanese producer Georgina Pope.
“The White Lotus” creator White previously told Entertainment Weekly that the season will be a “supersized ‘White Lotus.’ 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.”
The third installment will focus on “death and Eastern religion and spirituality,” as White previously shared during a post-finale Season 2 featurette. “The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” White 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.”
The first season, which premiered July 2021, was set in Hawaii and received 20 Emmy nominations across 13 categories and ten wins, the most wins of any program that year including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. The second season, which premiered in December 2022, was set in Sicily and garnered 23 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, and five wins.
“The White Lotus” is already renewed for Season 4.
“The White Lotus” Season 3 premieres Sunday, February 16 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on Max. Check out the trailer below.
