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No one ever expected The White Lotus to be the hit it has become within the past four years.

The show was a placeholder for HBO’s Sunday night, which was starved of content as the world still grappled with the new normal caused by the pandemic.

It was a hit right off the gate, and soon after, HBO asked for more.

(Stefano Delia/HBO)

The White Lotus Season 3 takes viewers to Thailand as they follow yet another bunch of rich, entitled white people.

The show has reached various audiences thanks to the power of word of mouth and social media reactions.

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And for many,...

Note: This story contains spoilers from ‘The White Lotus” Season 3, Episode 8.

Eight weeks after it began, “The White Lotus” Season 3 has finally come to an end. It has been a wild, tense ride — one full of some of the show’s most astonishing highs (Sam Rockwell’s Emmy-worthy monologue) and frustrating lows (Jason Isaacs’ circular story week-in-and-week-out). Early on, “The White Lotus” Season 3 suggested that it was going to be the series’ darkest, most introspective and most cynical season to date. Its finale, titled “Amor Fati,” proved that to be true.

A fever dream of an episode, the “White Lotus” Season 3 finale delivers all the shocking moments that viewers wanted, as well as fitting endings for all of its characters. Even the season’s happy endings, however, carry with them a dark, acidic edge, one that reminds us yet again that success in a capitalistic world always requires sacrifice of some kind.

“The White Lotus” Season 3 is finally here. As is always the case with the HBO anthology series, though, it’s returned with a new cast of actors and characters for viewers to follow and either grow to love or revile. “The White Lotus” has also left its Hawaii and Italy hotels behind in favor of a new exotic setting: a wellness retreat in Thailand. Prepare for a lot of awkward social moments, barely hidden resentment, and, of course, some murder.

Here are all the characters you need to know in “The White Lotus” Season 3 as well as who play them.

Natasha Rothwell as Belinda in “The White Lotus” Season 3 (Fabio Lovino/HBO) Belinda (Natasha Rothwell)

Belinda was the spa manager at the White Lotus in Hawaii. She travels to the brand’s Thailand location to learn from its spa employees (and also take a small vacation herself). A returning character...

Fans of “The White Lotus” are looking forward to the season finale of Mike White’s twisted HBO series on Sunday night – but for actors from other series hoping to be recognized in the supporting categories at this year’s Emmy Awards, it could be a sobering night.

That’s because Season 3 of the series has already spent seven hours spinning out juicy storylines for a wide array of actors, including Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood, Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs, Carrie Coon, Natasha Rothwell and Sam Rockwell. If the finale does justice to the craziness that filled the first seven episodes, it’s going to be very hard to keep Emmy voters from doing what they did after Season 1 and Season 2 of the series, when the supporting categories were clogged with “White Lotus” performers to the exclusion of almost everybody else.

For its first season in 2022, when the show was classified as a limited series,...

“The White Lotus” Season 3, Episode 7 is one of the HBO drama’s most uncomfortable, unnerving to date. That’s saying something for a show that has mined plenty of material out of the kind of everyday social tensions that make you want to crawl out of your skin.

There is something heavy hanging over “Killer Instincts,” a thick, unshakable dread that makes every scene feel just one small step away from toppling over the edge of a cliff. Creator Mike White has adopted such a slow-burn approach to all of this season’s threads that resolution is starting to feel just around the corner, which is what makes “Killer Instincts” such a painful hour of television. Once again, White pushed “The White Lotus” forward without delivering the cathartic explosion of drama viewers long for. The result is an agonizing yet mesmerizing experience.

Case in point: Rick Hatchett’s (Walton Goggins...

Note: This story contains spoilers from “The White Lotus” Season 3, Episode 5.

While “The White Lotus” Season 3 already shocked viewers with a drunken kiss between brothers Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) and Lochlan (Sam Nivola), Episode 6 escalated the incest storyline even further.

In the aftermath of the full-moon party, Saxon flashed back to glimpses of the night’s drug-filled shenanigans, which saw Lochlan hooking up with Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) with Saxon just feet away, seemingly pleasuring himself. A subsequent flashback, however, revealed that it was Lochlan who was pleasuring Saxon at one point — a part of the script Nivola first thought was a “typo.”

“I thought that there was a typo that screwed up the names — I was like ‘me and him?’ ” the actor told TheWrap. “I was blown away — I was shocked but … Mike [White] is a total genius … and is a brilliant writer, obviously. Nothing is for shock value — it’s...

It turns out the Ratliffs weren’t the only guests on The White Lotus who turned to Bravo-lebrities in preparation for their roles in Season 3 of the HBO series.

In addition to finding inspiration in “some part of Rachel Zoe, like that world,” Leslie Bibb revealed that she also consumed the Real Housewives franchise while playing Texas housewife Kate Bohr in Mike White‘s anthology series.

“I was watching The Real Housewives always before scenes,” she said on Watch What Happens Live.

“Sometimes I’d just watch it and I just see what seeps in. That sounds crazy. And then I don’t even know what’s permeating.”

Bibb noted “a lot of Beverly Hills was happening, and that felt in the right world. Maybe a little Oc. Maybe there’s a little Heather Dubrow in her.”

Co-star Jason Isaacs, who plays North Carolina patriarch Timothy Ratliff, said that...

This post contains spoilers from The White Lotus season 3 premiere from this point forward.

After almost two years without a vacation to the most infamous hotel resort on television, The White Lotus has finally returned to HBO with its highly anticipated third season. The Emmy Award-winning satirical anthology series from Mike White comes back with a new cast, a new theme, and a new location for its wealthy guests to escape to for a week of deadly fun.

The White Lotus travels to Thailand for an exploration of spirituality and religion along with the usual themes of privilege, wealth, family, relationships, and dark secrets. No one's leaving their holiday the same person they were when they walked off the boat to the hotel. That's just how it goes when a new batch of guests descend on the hotel that at least attempts to give its patrons a calm stay.

This season,...

A lot changes between seasons of “The White Lotus,” but some things never do. So it is that the premiere of “The White Lotus” Season 3 begins with a glimpse of future death and mayhem.

The season’s prologue follows Zion (Nicholas Duvernay), a stressed-out college student we eventually learn is the son of returning “White Lotus” Season 1 spa manager Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), as the tranquil quiet of his meditation session at the White Lotus Thailand’s wellness center is shattered first by the chirping of jungle monkeys and then by the sound of nearby gunshots. Fearing for his mother’s life, Zion prays for her safety to both Jesus and a nearby Buddha statue.

As he hides in a waist-high lagoon, he watches a dead body float into view. Before we get the chance to determine the corpse’s identity, “White Lotus” creator, writer and director Mike White takes us...

Note: This story contains spoilers from “The White Lotus” Season 3, Episode 1.

“The White Lotus” Season 3 premiere revealed a familiar face at the Thailand resort, which might translate into trouble for Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda, who returns to the HBO drama series after starring in Season 1.

After introducing a new flock of vacationers at the White Lotus Thailand, fans might’ve recognized Jon Gries’ Greg, who orchestrated the death of his wife, Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), and is now introduced as the boyfriend of an ex-model (Charlotte Le Bon). Since Belinda had grown close with Tanya as the millionaire first started dating Greg in Season 1, Rothwell said Greg’s presence “evokes danger” for Belinda, especially given her son’s concerns over her safety in the season’s opening shooting.

“The fact that he’s seen in the first episode, it definitely evokes danger,” Rothwell told TheWrap. “It can be a scary...

Even though international pop star Lisa Manoban has performed in the world’s biggest music venues as part of the K-pop group Blackpink, the artist admitted she was “nervous” during her audition for “The White Lotus” Season 3, where she makes her acting debut.

“I wanted to switch to a new chapter for my life,” Manoban told TheWrap of her interest in acting. ” ‘The White Lotus’ opportunity came in, and was like, ‘Why not just give it a try?’ I’m a big fan of ‘The White Lotus’ already — I have to try, even if I don’t get it.”

Manoban’s name was brought up by one of the HBO show’s co-producers as well as the casting directors during the production’s Thailand casting, EP Dave Bernad told TheWrap, recalling that he and creator Mike White weren’t familiar with Manoban, a Thai native, or with Blackpink. “We treated...

When Mike White launched “The White Lotus” in 2021 as a limited series, the production was confined by pandemic protocols, making for a small-in-scope yet star-studded season.

“We weren’t allowed to leave the hotel,” said executive producer Dave Bernad, who’s worked alongside White for the past 20 years and on each installment of “The White Lotus,” recalled of Season 1. “It was a lot of scenes of people sitting around and people talking, and in [Season] 2, we were coming off of Covid, and we … opened up the world a little bit.”

Four years later, the HBO series tackled its most ambitious undertaking yet in the Thailand-set Season 3, which brings viewers everywhere from the streets of Phuket for the water-filled Thai New Year to the Muay Thai boxing ring. While Season 2 also took filming outside of the White Lotus resort across Sicily, Italy, Bernad said the scope of the third installment is “much...

“The White Lotus” will welcome a new group of guests to a new resort in Thailand when it returns to HBO and Max on Sunday, but the series has transported viewers in real life as its luxurious locales have become vacation hot spots beyond the TV screen.

Since its premiere in 2021, Mike White’s award-winning anthology series has delighted and shocked viewers with its pointed take on money, sex and power, set against exotic backdrops like southern Italy, Hawaii — and now Thailand.

While the show has been a boon for Warner Bros. Discovery, driving ratings, revenue and corporate partnerships, the so-called “White Lotus” effect has also provided a boost to the local economies of the sun-drenched places where the show films.

Production of the first two seasons of “White Lotus” contributed $12.9 million and over $40 million, respectively, in direct spending to the local economies of Maui, Hawaii and Sicily, Italy, according to HBO,...

Since its inception, The White Lotus has been a study of the human condition. Putting a wide array of wealthy individuals in an exclusive resort, the series has charted what makes them tick and their wide-ranging questions about their lives.

The first two seasons were a resounding success because they used a relatively small pool of characters to mine many storylines.

The White Lotus Season 3 aims to expand on that, with its most enormous cast yet, and it falls very short.

(Fabio Lovino/HBO )

Since The White Lotus Season 2 was on par with Season 1, I figured the show would scale new heights with a brand-new cast and location for its latest chapter.

However, a large cast is only worthwhile if it is being utilized. Sadly, only a handful of the characters make an impact in the first six episodes screened for critics.

(HBO/Screenshot)

Natasha Rothwell’s return as Belinda...

Late in “The White Lotus” Season 3, one of the titular resort’s featured guests solicits a respected Buddhist monk for advice. The request is, ostensibly, on behalf of someone else, but it’s rooted in the questioner’s self-interest, and the attentive local isn’t fooled. “Many people come here from your country, I think, because of spiritual malaise,” the monk tells the wealthy American tourist. “[They’ve] lost connection with nature, with family, with spirit… what is left? The self — chasing money, pleasure. Everyone runs from pain toward pleasure, but when they get there, only find more pain. You cannot outrun pain.”

His words ring all the more clearly in a series that opens on an unidentified dead body and then jumps a week back in time to frame the ensuing episodes around a pressing, purposefully peripheral question: Who’s going to end up dead? Who can’t escape their fate?...

“The White Lotus” Season 3 — once again scripted, directed, and created by Mike White — begins with a moment of zen. Ben Kutchins’ camera snakes up a tree branch as a monkey looks through the Thailand woods into the newest location of the titular resort while a guest takes a meditation class.

“Calm our chattering monkey minds, and find what is timeless,” the Lotus employee remarks — a self-help axiom that doubles nicely as a thesis statement for the characters we’ll soon meet. It’s only a matter of time before the harshness of reality pierces the presumed tranquility of this idyllic setting. In short, welcome back to another season of mayhem and murder at the White Lotus.

If this latest reiteration of White’s award-winning series feels familiar, that’s a feature not a bug. As indicated by the Buddhist statues that dot the property of the Thai outpost, this season...

Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood in ‘The White Lotus’ season 3 (Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO)

With nearly a month still left before the debut of season three, HBO’s given The White Lotus a renewal order for season four. The upcoming third season of the Emmy-winning drama will premiere on February 16, 2025. New episodes will air on Sundays at 9pm Et/Pt.

Created by Mike White, The White Lotus launched season one in July 2021, followed by season two in December 2022. The first season scored 20 combined Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy nominations, winning 10 including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, Writing, Directing, and Supporting Actress (Jennifer Coolidge). Season two picked up 23 Emmy nominations and went home with five trophies.

Season three’s huge ensemble cast includes Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Sarah Catherine Hook, Jason Isaacs, Lalisa Manobal, and Michelle Monaghan. Sam Nivola, Lek Patravadi, Parker Posey, Natasha Rothwell, Patrick Schwarzenegger,...

Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO HBO has exciting news for fans of The White Lotus! The Emmy-winning series is officially returning for a fourth season, even before its highly anticipated season 3 premiere on February 16th. Known for its sharp social satire, The White Lotus takes viewers inside the tangled lives of guests and staff at luxury resorts around the world. After captivating audiences in Hawaii and Sicily, the upcoming third season heads to a brand-new exotic location—Thailand. This critically acclaimed hit has swept the awards circuit, snagging 20 Emmy wins for its first season and another 5 for its second, cementing its status as a must-watch series. Mark your calendars—season 3 premieres Sunday, February 16th, from 9:00-10:00 p.m. Et/Pt on HBO and Max. The season’s stellar cast includes Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, and Patrick Schwarzenegger, among other talented actors.

We know what an American in Paris looks like, but an American in Italy…now that’s all the rage in recent years.

Italian costume designer Nicoletta Ercole, who was Emmy-nominated for her work on HBO film “My House in Umbria,” exclusively told IndieWire that the rise in Italy-set American productions have fumbled when capturing the romantic aesthetic of the nation. From “Mafia Mamma” to “The Book Club: The Next Chapter” to “Spin Me Round,” more and more American productions are opting to film in Italy. Now with Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” set to speed into theaters and the trendy second season of “The White Lotus” awaiting Emmy nominations, it’s proof that Italy is the country of the moment in stateside culture.

Yet according to Ercole, American filmmakers have an antiquated idea of Italian fashion. “They want to see really the Italian style, or in the case of ‘House of Gucci,...

Like the enigmatic Leonardo da Vinci himself, this lavish limited series Leonardo starring Poldark’s Aidan Turner as the High Renaissance artist, inventor and scientist is many things: a biopic of an insatiably curious and obsessively driven genius with abandonment issues; a platonic love story between the man and the model listed only as “da Cremona” in historical records; and, in a delicious twist, a fictional murder mystery. As the story starts, Leonardo is arrested for the poisoning of Caterina da Cremona (Matilda De Angelis) in Milan. Officer Stefano Giraldi (Freddie Highmore), under pressure to get a confession, begins interrogating Leonardo about his life and work — taking us back 16 years to his apprenticeship in Florence. (Credit: Fabio Lovino/Lux Vide/Sony Pictures Television) For show cocreators Frank Spotnitz and Steve Thompson, Giraldi is a proxy for viewers who may not think they care about the painter behind the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper.

This year's Cannes Film Festival jury Photo: Brigitte Lacombe, Emma Stone, Rr, David Godlis, Fabio Lovino and Patrick Kovarik / Afp

The final line-up of the Cannes Film Festival jury under the presidency of Mexican film-maker Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu who together will deliberate on the coveted Palme d’Or among other Competition prizes, has just been revealed and will comprise four women and four men from four continents and representing seven nationalities.

With a few official selection titles still to be announced the female side of the jury is made of American actress Elle Fanning; the actress and director from Burkina Faso Maimouna N’Diaye; director, screenwriter and editor Kelly Reichardt from the United States; and the Italian director and screenwriter Alice Rohrwacher whose Happy As Lazarro won the screenplay prize last year.

The men on the jury are 120 Bpm (Beats Per Minute) director Robin Campillo, also a screenwriter and editor; from Greece,...