‘The White Lotus’: Everything We Know About Season 3

After Warner Bros. Discovery teased in a December conference that The White Lotus would return with season three in February 2025, HBO soon after announced that drama series will premiere with its eight-episode weekly season on Feb. 16 at 9 p.m. on HBO, available to stream on Max.

The cast for season three is star-studded — with one former employee back among the new group of guests and White Lotus staff.

Not only will season one star Natasha Rothwell return, she’ll be reprising her originating role as Belinda Lindsey, the spa manager at the Hawaiian resort who aspired to create her own business and was left with a wad of cash from Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya McQuoid. “When [creator] Mike White was finishing up season two, he asked to grab dinner with me. I thought nothing of it,” Rothwell told THR of her return. “But he was already thinking about season three and wanting to explore her more. I told him I’d follow him anywhere, and I meant it. I didn’t know where the shoot or the storyline were, it was just a yes.” 

Rothwell’s return casting follows in the footsteps of double Emmy winner Coolidge, who served as a bridge to the first two seasons of the anthology series when the heiress showed up on the Sicilian coast for season two. Her story tragically ended, however, and though White and Coolidge wouldn’t totally rule out bringing her back in some capacity, Coolidge more recently said she’s not a part of season three: “When they kill you, you have to accept it.”

White, in a January interview with Time, acknowledged her absence. “It’s not just the creative part, but she’s a very good friend, and also a big part of the show just as a person. I’m not friends with the cast the way that I’m friends with Jennifer. But there’s definitely some performances I feel rival her as far as hopefully iconic performances,” he said.

Joining Rothwell in season three are franchise newcomers Carrie Coon and Scott Glenn (marking a Leftovers reunion), Walton Goggins (who said the offer brought him to tears), Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Blackpink member Lisa (credited as Lalisa Manobal), Dom Hetrakul, Jason Isaacs, Tayme Thapthimthong, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood, Nicholas Duvernay, Francesca Corney, Arnas Fedaravičius, Christian Friedel, Morgana O’Reilly, Lek Patravadi and Shalini Peiris. (HBO recast Miloš Biković, following public criticism in the Ukraine, and replaced him with Julian Kostov.)

Along with the premiere date announcement for season three came character descriptions for the cast. Here they are, with photos to match.

Goggins, who plays hotel guest Rick Hatchett, offered up this hint when speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at the season three premiere about the mystery around his character, specifically, and the pressure of holding the season three scripts: “Even though your name is like blazed across it, you still feel like, ‘I don’t want this, I don’t want the responsibility of this,’” he said. “Everybody else’s motivations are revealed pretty quickly. Nine are held back. It’s a slow burn but I can promise you that if you stick with this guy there’s a big lesson for all of us I think that will resonate deeply. It’s like most of the things I do — I’m best when I’m coming from behind.”

Season three was filmed in and around Koh Samui, Phuket and Bangkok for The White Lotus‘ Thailand season, with the resort filmed at the Four Seasons Koh Samui, a haunt to some of the richest people not only in Thailand but globally. The resort boasts 43 acres and 60 teak villas, all with pools and sweeping ocean vistas.

HBO partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to support the filming and production of the season. Seasons one and two were filmed at the Four Seasons hotels in Maui, Hawaii, and Taormina, Sicily, respectively, with both experiencing a tourism bump from the show.

“The kingdom’s exotic natural beauty, rich historical sites and diverse landscapes are the perfect settings to share our fascinating culture, fantastic cuisine, top-notch wellness and luxury offerings, and most importantly our people and Thai hospitality,” said Thapanee Kiatphaibool, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, of The White Lotus setting its sights on Thailand. “Thailand has long been considered one of the world’s favorite filming locations. The White Lotus project will certainly strengthen the kingdom’s status as a preferred filming destination and a beacon of experience-based tourism, inspiring even more visitors to amazing Thailand.” 

First, a very brief peek at the season came in the form of a teaser for all of HBO and Max’s 2025 programming. The two-minute video teased a multitude of upcoming shows, including The White Lotus. About 20 seconds in, a Thailand location shot ushers in brief glimpses at the new season, including the characters played by Goggins, Bibb and Posey — and it provided the first look at Rothwell’s return as a happy Belinda Lindsey.

Then the teaser trailer arrived. “Seeking peace can be a trip,” said HBO when dropping the footage, which says in voiceover, “Everyone runs from pain towards pleasure. But they get there only to find more pain.”

And finally, the full trailer promises that when the one week trip to Thailand is over, “you will be an entirely different person.”

The spiritual aspirations when many of the guests arrive are quickly questioned — or shattered (“What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand” … “Everyone who comes to Thailand, they’re either hiding from someone or looking for someone”) — as many of them are hiding secrets from their travel partners. See the foreboding trailer, below:

Both of the previous seasons opened with a shot of an unidentified dead body, setting up a mystery in the background that propelled the comedy-satire through its story on class and relationships. The first season highlighted money and the second sex, and creator Mike White had said that the third season would be a “satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality.” Something that felt like “a rich tapestry” to do another round at White Lotus.

When the second season finished, White said he could be open to giving viewers more answers from the finale, particularly related to Tanya’s husband, Greg (Jon Gries), and his involvement in the tragic ending. In a later feature with THR, he spoke about revisiting other characters (before Rothwell was announced), the show’s pivot from limited series to drama and why he may not open season three with another dead body.

“It would be easy to just be full-on anthology, but I think it’s more fun to have little threads through the show. If the show goes on for a couple of seasons, it would be fun to have an all-star season,” he said. “I don’t think it needs to always be a body [opening the show]. There are so many ways that we want to reinvent the show each year. Like, what is this show — other than people? A fresh mystery, people maybe expect that. But I don’t feel constrained by expectation. It’s fun.”

Coolidge added to THR: “Mike must have some juicy stuff for [Rothwell’s character]. I think that will be the most interesting storyline of all: whatever’s happened to Natasha’s character. But, yeah, I also want to see Greg get it.”

When nearing the end of 2023’s SAG-AFTRA strike and finalizing his scripts, White told EW that season three would be “a supersized” White Lotus — something the cast announcements are bearing out: “It’s going to be longer, bigger, crazier. I don’t know what people will think, but I am super excited, so at least for my own barometer, that’s a good thing … I’m super excited about the content of the season.”

Weeks ahead of premiere, White, in his interview with Time, expanded on his inspirations for the season (years of travel, vacation observations and a personally hard year). The third season explores his interest in Eastern spirituality and wellness practices, along with his skepticism of how Westerners use the medicine on self-care. “They’re all in some kind of hurt,” White said of this season’s guests. “Like, they’re all dead, but they don’t know it.”

He also said the Thailand-set season will be “much, much darker” than the two previous seasons, as well as grander and more epic. “I do feel like the other seasons were a rehearsal for this one,” said White.

The new season is getting very strong reviews, and currently boasts a 93 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

The Hollywood Reporter’s review from chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg said the season takes its time to set up the story, but picks up midway through. “Especially in the first three episodes, this season of The White Lotus is a very slow burn in terms of plot. That’s partially by character-driven design, partially because of White’s structural preferences — according to which every hovering tragedy has to be carefully teased long before it happens — and mostly because it’s hard not to feel like the Ratliffs, all up in each other’s personal business to an uncomfortable degree, aren’t a Tobacco Row version of the Mossbachers from the first season. Or that Rick, in his shady desperation, doesn’t look a lot like Jon Gries’ Greg,” he wrote.

Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, said in November that a fourth season of The White Lotus was already coming together. “While we were in Thailand, Mike White pitched us on his concept for season four,” said Bloys, later clarifying: “If he wants to move forward, we will do the fourth season of course.”

A fourth season then became official in late January, 2025. No details on season four are yet available, but the renewal new came weeks ahead of season three’s release.

White said he has “some ideas” for what future seasons could be and that he could imagine making “maybe six seasons.”