Traveling
This story contains spoilers from the season 2 finale of The White Lotus.
When the new White Lotus trailer promises viewers that “what happens in Thailand stays in Thailand,” you already know the escapist HBO comedy is taking us on a wild vacation. Nobody ever talks about what happens in these resorts. (Murder, usually.) Based on the new trailer, I don’t think season 3 is taking its foot off the gas.
The new season premieres in just two over weeks, as all-new guests arrive in Thailand for what looks like our craziest adventure yet. For starters, audiences are welcomed to the resort by none other than Blackpink’s Lisa—who appears to be working at the White Lotus Hotel, along with new guests Parker Posey and Walton Goggins. We also see fan-favorite masseuse Belinda (Natasha Rothwell). She’s looking absolutely refreshed and ready for a massage. So are Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Aimee Lou Wood, and the rest of season 3’s exceptional new cast. Check it out below.
“I don’t know what people will think, but I’m super excited,” Mike White told Deadline about the “longer, bigger, crazier” arc for season 3. “So, at least for my own barometer, that’s a good thing.”
Read on for everything we know about The White Lotus season 3.
When Will Season 3 of The White Lotus Premiere?
The White Lotus season 3 premieres February 16, 2025. The series will air on HBO and stream on Max. I can’t think of a better cure for the winter blues.
Where Will the Next Season Take Place?
Earlier this year, White mentioned that he toured Asia in search of a new location. Due to some complex tax incentives, however, he chose Thailand. “We saw some absolutely stunning locations all over Honshu,” Toho producer Georgina Pope told reporters at the Tokyo Film Festival. “The showrunner loved it all, and I was feeling very confident that I had it all in the bag…. At the time in Japan, we had no [tax] incentive in place at all. I could not respond with a concrete answer. All I could hear was the sound of a $35 million project flying out the window.”
According to Variety, every season of The White Lotus has been filmed at a Four Seasons resort. If White continues that tradition, he’ll have plenty of options to choose from for season 3, as the company has hotels in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, and the Golden Triangle. The resorts each have a different setting, so depending on White’s plans for season 3, we could see the next batch of travelers lounging in the city, countryside, jungle, or on another beach.
White’s project joins a group including Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Martin Scorsese’s Silence, both of which also left the country in favor of Thailand. Still, HBO head Casey Bloys is reportedly amped about the next round of vacationers, even though production had to go with its second location choice. Though further details are still top secret, the network CEO revealed in a Series Mania keynote interview that White’s vision for season 3 was a “really fun idea.” The next installment is shaping up to be a “satirical and funny look at death in Eastern religion and spirituality.” If there’s anything these rich vacationers need, it’s spiritual healing.
What’s Next for the Cast?
The White Lotus is an anthology series (meaning, of course, that the seasons don’t fully connect to one another), so just about anything can happen in season 3. But we already have an idea as to a certain storyline the next season will follow up on. Not one to let us recover at home and properly pour one out for Tanya and the handful of men she murdered, White started merrily talking about the next chapter in his post-episode interview. And guess what? Sounds like season 3 of The White Lotus may very well act as a quasi sequel to the finale’s fateful showdown.
“I think as far as, like, what happens to Greg and the conspiracy of Tanya’s death, it’s possible that I think Portia is scared enough to just leave it alone, but the fact that all of those guys die on the boat, it feels like there’s gotta be somebody who’s gonna track it back down to Greg. But maybe you’ll have to wait to find out what happens.”
What can we expect thematically going forward? Well, the first iteration of The White Lotus used the backdrop of a (tense as hell) vacation to explore larger societal themes. Set on a beautiful Hawaiian island, the show illustrated how travelers often visit a new destination, abuse its resources—and, in turn, its people—and then leave without a second thought. Season 2, I think we can all agree, waded through the powers of attraction and sex. Here’s what White said could be in store for the third go-round:
“The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” White said. “And I think the third season it would be maybe a kind of satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality. And it feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus.”
Based on what we know so far, Belinda will likely have a large role in season 3. The last time we saw her was in season 1, when Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) roped her into a botched business deal. Fans of the series saw Tanya’s untimely demise in the season 2 finale. Now that she’s out of the picture, it will be interesting to see how Belinda is worked back into the story.
Rothwell told Vanity Fair that she loved the material for season 3. “I gasped out loud a minimum of five times, and this was just me reading them,” she said. “The scripts are a testament to Mike’s skill and ability to tell the most smart and entertaining stories. I mean, everything that he does is like a lesson to me as an actor and a performer. And as a writer myself, he takes folks on a journey. Everyone needs to buckle up because it’s going to get real.”
Who Else Will Appear in Season 3?
Each season of The White Lotus has introduced a new ensemble—aside from Coolidge, Jon Gries (Greg), and now Rothwell. It seems White has a pattern of bringing back the most complex characters and the fan favorites. Coolidge’s performance as Tanya McQuoid, a distressed multimillionaire, earned her her first Emmy in 2022. Given her fate, more Tanya time is obviously not on our future vacation itineraries, unless it’s via flashback.
Blackpink’s Lisa is joining season 3’s cast. The K-pop singer, born Pranpriya Manobal in Buriram, Thailand, stars alongside newcomers Parker Posey (The Staircase), Jason Isaacs (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris), Leslie Bibb (Jupiter’s Legacy), Dom Hetrakul (The Outrage), Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible – Fallout), Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age), and Tayme Thapthimthong (Farang).
With Coolidge out of the running, it’s fun to think about which guest from season 2 might be fit for another vacation in the future. Our money’s on Michael Imperioli—and it sounds like he’d be down. “I don’t want to think about it too much,” he told Esquire. “Because the idea of that makes me so happy. I don’t want to be disappointed…. I would want nothing more than that. I just loved working with Mike so much.”
