Get ready to head east, because it seems like we now know the official location of season three of “The White Lotus.” On March 27, sources told Variety that the season will be set in Thailand. Reps for HBO did not immediately respond to POPSUGAR’s request for comment.
Back in February, “Reboot” creator Johnny Knoxville dropped a false lead in an interview with Vulture. In the interview, 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.”
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 end 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.”
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.”
Season one of “The White Lotus” premiered in July 2021 and won 10 Emmys at the 2022 awards ceremony. Season two – which stars Coolidge Aubrey Plaza, Michael Imperioli, Meghann Fahy, Theo James, Haley Lu Richardson, and Tom Hollander – kicked off its 2023 awards season race with three wins out of its four 2023 Golden Globes nominations. HBO has yet to announce a release date for season three, but, presumably, we can expect it sometime later this year or in early 2024.
– Additional reporting by Njera Perkins