Fans are going to have to wait a little while for “The White Lotus” season three. On Nov. 2, HBO and Max executive Casey Bloy revealed that the new season likely won’t be here until 2025.
We don’t know all that much about what to expect from “The White Lotus” season three, but back in March, after much speculation about where the new season would take place, sources told Variety that it would be set in Thailand. Reps for HBO did not respond to POPSUGAR’s request for comment, but it does seem like we can expect that the new season will be heading eastward.
Back in February, “Reboot” creator Johnny Knoxville dropped a false lead in an interview with Vulture. In the interview, Knoxville shared that he’s good friends with “White Lotus” showrunner Mike White and that the pair had recently “been in Tokyo together.” “I think that’s where the next . . . Oh, I’m not giving anything away,” he said, making some fans think “The White Lotus” season three would be set in Japan.
Fans had long suspected that “The White Lotus” season three would take place somewhere in the east. The “Unpacking Episode 7” segment pegged to the show’s season two finale, which aired on Dec. 11, 2022, gave a big hint about season three’s location and theme. “The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” White explained. “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.”
That wasn’t the first time White shared a tidbit about a possible eastern location for “The White Lotus.” Ahead of the show’s season two premiere on Oct. 30, 2022, he told Deadline, “I think it’d be fun to maybe go to a whole different continent. You know, we did Europe, and maybe Asia, something crazy like that, that would be fun.”
Keep reading for everything we know about “The White Lotus” season three.
“The White Lotus” Season 3 Plot
HBO renewed “The White Lotus” on Nov. 18, 2022, amid its second season, set in Sicily, Italy, noting that the third installment will follow “a new group of guests at another White Lotus property.”
“Reflecting on ‘The White Lotus”s humble, run-and-gun origin as a contained pandemic production, it’s impossible not to be awestruck by how [creator Mike White] orchestrated one of the buzziest and most critically acclaimed shows. And yet, he’s only continued to reach new heights in season two, which is the ultimate testament to Mike’s raw, unparalleled vision,” Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO programming, head of HBO drama series and films, said in a statement at the time. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to get the chance to collaborate on a third season together.”
“The White Lotus” Season 3 Cast
While White also expressed interest in bringing Jennifer Coolidge’s beloved character Tanya back for another season, the chances of that are highly unlikely now considering the fate she meets at the conclusion of season two. Of her tragic ending, White said in “Unpacking,” “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 added: “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.”
Even though Tanya may be gone for good, another fan-favorite character will be back for the third installment: Belinda Lindsey. On April 19, both Natasha Rothwell’s rep and HBO confirmed to POPSUGAR that the actor will reprise her role as the beloved spa manager after Variety first reported the news. No other details about her role in the upcoming season have been revealed.
“The White Lotus” Season 3 Release Date
“The White Lotus” season three probably won’t premiere until 2025 due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike and the WGA strike, which was only recently resolved. “‘White Lotus’ Season 3, that was going to be ’24 and that’s likely moving into 2025,” Bloys said on Nov. 2, per Deadline.
