It was surely one of 2021’s most popular and talked-about TV series, so it’s not hugely surprising that The White Lotus has been confirmed for a second season.
Season one of the captivating series took us to The White Lotus luxury resort in Hawaii where a group of wealthy, and vaguely terrible, people check-in for some rest and relaxation. Tasked with dealing with the various guest’s requests and idiosyncracies is resort manager Armond (played by Aussie actor Murray Bartlett) who starts to fall apart from the stress of dealing with their demands.
The series, which was billed at the time of its release as a limited one, was written, directed and executive produced by Mike White, with the second instalment of the anthology set to leave Hawaii and “follow a different group of vacationers as they jet to another White Lotus property and settle in temporarily amongst its inhabitants,” according to HBO.
In an interview with EW, White explained that the second season won’t be taking place on the White Lotus property due to the expensive cost of filming in Maui outside of a pandemic. “It would have to be The White Lotus: Kyoto or something,” he said. “Which would be fun too, because we could get into culture clash ideas and stuff like that.”
Of course, the stand-out character and performer from the first season of The White Lotus was Jennifer Coolidge who played the drunk, grieving and lovelorn Tanya McQuoid who travels to the resort to try to scatter her deceased mother’s ashes.
McQuoid strikes up a friendship with hotel spa manager Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), chewing her ear off about her issues and vaguely offering to fund her new friend’s dream of owning her own wellness centre — only to renege on the offer after finding romance with another resort guest.
The interactions between Belinda and Tanya captured the essence of what made The White Lotus so irresistible because although you know that things won’t end well for the hopeful spa mogul (just as they don’t for several other characters in the show), you also can’t stop watching her make herself more and more available to someone who you know will only let her down.
Speaking to TV Line, White expressed his desire for a few of the characters from the first season to return for the second (I, personally, would love to see more of Molly Shannon as the rich, overbearing Kitty Patton), but having all of the characters come back on the same vacation wouldn’t make much sense.
Given how season one ended and Coolidge’s character in general, however, it would make perfect sense to see Tanya checking into another White Lotus property.
No release date or further cast announcements have been made as yet.
Season one of The White Lotus, starring Murray Bartlett, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Lacy, Natasha Rothwell, and Steve Zahn is now streaming on BINGE.
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