Let the casting speculations begin! The White Lotus creator Mike White has started preliminary casting on the upcoming fourth season of his HBO murder mystery anthology series, which will be set in France.
“Mike is writing, and he’s just starting the casting process,” Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max Content, said during HBO’s press presentation Thursday. “It’s very, very early so I don’t have any names or anything like that, but he’s just starting.”
Casting for The White Lotus has always drawn a lot of attention because of the show’s pop culture status which has helped launch and relaunch acting careers, with most of the cast landing awards recognition as well.
The series has had no trouble assembling strong casts despite its unusual setup where all main actors are paid the same modest fee, most recently $40K an episode. The show typically goes through multiple offers for some roles until a deal is made. (Woody Harrelson has spoken publicly about turning down a Season 3 part for scheduling reasons.)
The White Lotus has won a Casting Emmy for both Season 1, when it ran as a limited/anthology series, and Season 2 as a drama.
Bloys confirmed in September Deadline’s scoop that Season 4 will be filming in France and reiterated it again today. Following White’s participation in the upcoming 50th season of CBS’ Survivor, filmed in Fiji over the summer, he headed to France to scout locations and was spotted at French Riviera hotels, including Nice’s historic Hotel Negresco. The Riviera is considered a lock as a White Lotus Season 4 destination, with Paris also rumored as a possibility.
The exact hotels have not been confirmed yet, and, as Deadline reported, it is unclear whether any of them will be Four Seasons like in previous seasons (Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat and Paris’ Hotel George V would be suitable candidates). HBO currently does not have a marketing agreement with the hotel chain for Season 4.
“For the fourth season, I want to get a little bit out of the crashing waves of rocks vernacular but there’s always more room for more murders at the White Lotus hotels,” White said at the end of Season 3.
While is believed to have done at least some — if not all — of the writing for the new season in France. Taking an auteur approach, he writers and directs all episodes of the show.
As for whether he has drawn any inspiration from his recent repeat appearance on Survivor for The White Lotus S4, “I don’t I imagine he did, but I don’t know specifically if he’s incorporated any of that into this specific season,” Bloys said.
