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Warning: This post contains spoilers for The White Lotus: Sicily
Well, The White Lotus: Sicily is officially done and dusted, with poor queen Tanya McQuoid dying in truly spectacular fashion during the climactic final episode.
To call the sophomore season of The White Lotus a success would be somewhat of an understatement — throughout the run, the HBO darling managed to grow its audience every week, as viewers tuned in to try to work out who died. The season 2 finale pulled in double the number of viewers of the show’s first season.
It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that HBO is eager for more adventures, and recently confirmed that The White Lotus will be returning for a third season.
The White Lotus: Sicily has been met with good reviews, and after the first season picked up 10 of the 20 Emmy Awards that it was nominated for this year, and The White Lotus: Sicily has already been nominated for a number of Golden Globe nominations for the 2023 ceremony.
“Reflecting on The White Lotus‘ humble, run-and-gun origin as a contained pandemic production, it’s impossible not to be awestruck by how Mike orchestrated one of the buzziest and most critically acclaimed shows,” said Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President of HBO Programming and Head of HBO Drama Series and Films, said of White in a statement. White is credited as the show’s creator, writer, director, and executive producer.
“And yet, he’s only continued to reach new heights in season 2, which is the ultimate testament to Mike’s raw, unparalleled vision,” she continued. “His courage to explore the uncharted waters of the human psyche, paired with his signature irreverent humour and buoyant directing style, have us all dreaming of more vacation days at the resort we’ve come to adore. We couldn’t be more thrilled to get the chance to collaborate on a third season together.”
White, meanwhile, said: “There’s no place I’d rather work than HBO and there’s no people I’d rather partner with than Casey Bloys, Francesca Orsi, Nora Skinner, and their incredible team. I feel so lucky to get this opportunity again and am excited to reunite with my amazingly talented collaborators on The White Lotus.”
As for what’s in store for Season 3, viewers can expect a fresh cast and fresh location. While the first season was set in Hawaii, Season 2 moved production to Italy for The White Lotus: Sicily, with only Jennifer Coolidge returning to the cast.
Here’s everything we know so far about The White Lotus Season 3.
Related: “A Series of Very Bad Decisions”: ‘The White Lotus’ S2 Trailer Is (Finally!) Out
Related: Emmy Highlights: Jennifer Coolidge Dances, ‘Squid Game’ Makes History and More
Has The White Lotus Season 3 Been Confirmed?
It has! Per the statement above, Season 3 of The White Lotus is confirmed and will be on its way at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Where Will The White Lotus Season 3 Take Place?
So far, there’s no word on where the third season of The White Lotus will be set, but in an interview with Deadline on the red carpet for Season 2, White Lotus creator Mike White did offer some thoughts about a new location for the show’s third instalment.
“We just turned in our last episode to the network yesterday, so it’s hard to think about the next race,” he said. “But if we did, 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.”
Mike White teases ideas for #TheWhiteLotus Season 3 pic.twitter.com/6qPZz9pqPj
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) October 21, 2022
What Will The White Lotus Season 3 Be About?
Following the finale of The White Lotus: Sicily, Mike White revealed that he’s got some thoughts on what the third season will tackle thematically.
“The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” White explained in the Unpacking bonus feature that aired alongside The White Lotus: Sicily‘s season finale on HBO Max. “And 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.”
As for the plot, well, Sicily left us with a number of questions, one of which is: what happens to Greg (Jon Gries) after Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), Quentin (Tom Hollander) and co.’s untimely deaths? White said that we may get some closure on that.
To recap: the Season 2 finale revealed that Greg had hired Quentin to kill Tanya, in order to inherit her immense wealth — their prenup stated that if they divorced, he got next to nothing, but if she died, he’d inherit a fortune. This led to Tanya killing most of the men on the yacht, before falling overboard and drowning in the Ionian Sea.
While this was happening, Jack (Leo Woodall) — who’d been hired to distract Tanya’s assistant Portia (Haley Lu Richardson) and keep her away from the scene — dropped Portia at the airport and instructed her to leave the situation alone.
“It’s possible that Portia is scared enough to just leave it alone, but the fact that all of those guys die on the boat, it feels like there’s gotta be somebody who’s gonna track it back down to Greg,” said White. “But maybe you’ll have to wait and find out what happens.”
Tanya’s character has been the connective tissue that joins the stories of the first and second seasons together, in that she meets Greg in the first season, and in season 2, he plots to kill her. It was all, as White puts it, trekking toward Tanya’s “journey to death”.
In fact, it’s also hinted at in season 1 — as Tanya sits with Greg in the season finale, she notes that death is “the last immersive experience” she has yet to try.
Could season 3 connect to the first two seasons by giving us closure on what happens to Greg, then? It’s possible! Stay tuned, and we’ll update this post when we have more information.
Is There a Trailer for The White Lotus Season 3?
Sadly, not yet! Given that The White Lotus: Sicily has only just concluded, filming for Season 3 of The White Lotus hasn’t begun just yet. We’ll update this post as soon as the trailer drops, though.
Who Will Star in The White Lotus Season 3?
Jennifer Coolidge’s character of Tanya McQuoid was the only character to appear in both season 1 and 2 of The White Lotus, and Mike White had previously hinted that she could return in future seasons.
“Jennifer is my friend and everybody loved her in the first season, and I was like, ‘I can’t go to Italy without Jennifer’,” White told Deadline. “And maybe that’s still the case. Like, maybe you can’t go to Japan without Jennifer, either. There are so many fun actors we’ve worked with so far, so it’s just kind of like who’s available.”
Given that Tanya fell off a yacht and died, it now seems highly unlikely that her character will be returning for the third season unless it’s via flashback. Although, we suppose it’s always possible that Tanya had a twin sister?
Another cast member who could be set to return for Season 3 is Connie Britton, who played Nicole Mossbacher in the show’s first season.
“He wanted me to be in the second season, and there was an idea that I loved for the character,” Britton told Deadline earlier this year. “Our intention is to do it in the third season. A piece of casting didn’t work in the second season and we’re hoping to [do] that in the third season. I would love to see a spinoff on every character in that show.”
When Will The White Lotus Season 3 Be Released?
Given that the first season was released in July 2021 and Season 2 is currently airing, it’s safe to assume that The White Lotus Season 3 is awhile away just yet. There’s no official confirmation for when it will premiere, but don’t expect it before this time next year at the earliest.
We’ll update this post when an official date is confirmed.
Where Can I Watch The White Lotus Season 3 in Australia?
The White Lotus Season 3 will air on BINGE and Foxtel when it’s released. Seasons 1 and 2 of The White Lotus are available to stream in full on BINGE right now.
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