Aimee Lou Wood, Charlotte Le Bon, and Patrick Schwarzenegger star in the new season of “The White … [+]
“When people travel, they often try on versions of themselves that they may not otherwise,” says Natasha Rothwell, as she talks about the thought behind the series The White Lotus.
Now set to kick off its third season, The White Lotus is a sharp social satire following the exploits of various guests and employees of the fictional White Lotus resort chain, whose present and future becomes affected by their various dysfunctions. With each passing day of their weeklong stay, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travelers, the hotel’s cheerful employees, and the idyllic locale itself.
The cast for this season, which is set in Thailand, features Rothwell — who is reprising her role as hotel employee Belinda from season one — along with Walton Goggins, Parker Posey, Jason Issacs, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, and Sarah Catherine Hook, among others.
With previous seasons set in Hawaii and Italy, series creator, writer and director Mike White says that Thailand seemed a good choice for the themes he wanted to analyze this time out. “I was thinking it’d be cool to do something about religion, God, and spirituality. Thailand is, you know, a Buddhist country and there’s a lot of Buddhist concepts that I thought would be interesting to explore.” He added that it felt like a good place for Westerners to come in and create ‘chaos’ as well.
Mike White arrives at the season three premiere of “The White Lotus” on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, at … [+]
While White points out that the underlying current among the guests, is ‘people wanting to be their ideal self,’ Bibb, who is part of a trio of girlfriends at the resort, says she feels everyone hides something about themselves, and their friends, while wondering, “Will you still love me if you know who I am right now?”
Monaghan, who plays one of Bibb’s traveling companions, ruminates that the series expounds on the thought that everyone has unrealistic expectations for themselves, and one another.
“The way that we’ve been socially conditioned to constantly judge ourselves, to be competitive with ourselves and one another, and always looking at each other and ourselves and saying, ‘am I enough? Can I be doing it better?’”
Bibb adds, “It’s so hard not to compare our lives to one another. I mean, we’re all swiping and everybody’s life always looks so much dreamier on a phone or than in real life.”
As part of a family who’re spending time at The White Lotus, Hook says that everyone can relate to the thought that, “I mean, you never want to be a disappointment to your family while also trying to have a life of your own,” which is an underlying emotion that drives her storyline.
As her brother on the series, Schwarzenegger points out that the accelerated timeline of the series means that while some guests may evolve in unexpected ways, not everyone is going to have an epiphany of some sort by the end of their stay, reasoning, “It’s been a week. Not everyone changes in a week.”
He says that he and White had a discussion about this with White pointing out that, “I just want the audience at the end of it be like, ‘I wonder what would happen to that character the next weeks, or the next months.”
As one half of a couple visiting the resort, Wood says that for her a lot of the narrative is about ‘fate versus free will.’
“Like, how much is destined and how much choice and agency do we have? Because I feel like some people have a the fatal flaw. And is that destined, that downfall, or did we have a choice,” she remarks.
As choices, decisions and consequences abound with all of the characters, Monaghan sas that one thing is for sure, “you can never anticipate what’s coming down the pipeline.”
Chiming in to support this thought, Coon says that this season is pure, “Drunk ass chaos.”
In light of this, Rothwell advises viewer to, “Buckle the f*ck up.
‘The White Lotus’ premieres on Sunday, February 16th, at 9pm ET on HBO Max.
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