Luxury, Lies, and Reinvention: Behind the Scenes of “The White Lotus” Season 3
The doors to The White Lotus are reopening for a third season, and this time, guests are checking into paradise with more than just luggage—they’re bringing existential crises, spiritual awakenings, and long-buried tensions. Creator Mike White returns with a new star-studded ensemble, taking audiences to Thailand for a season that, according to Carrie Coon, can be summed up as “drunk ass chaos." At the recent press conference for Season 3 of the hit HBO series, the cast and creators teased what’s to come, from the themes of spirituality and reinvention to the return of Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda from Season 1.
With The White Lotus shifting settings from Hawaii to Italy to Thailand, Mike White wanted each season to explore a distinct thematic focus. Along with the shifting settings, there have been shifting themes. Season 1 was about class and culture, Season 2 explored sex and gender politics. So, what does Season 3 have in store?
"I was thinking it'd be cool to do something about religion, God, spirituality," Mike White explained. “Thailand is a Buddhist country." The setting was not just a visual change but a conceptual one. “Thailand [has] temples and this spiritual dimension. But then it also is known for Bangkok and the wild nights. And so it felt like that would be a great canvas to explore those themes."
One surprising addition this season? Monkeys. White, who has used primates as a motif before, noted, “We are kind of monkeys. In the first season, there’s some monkey stuff. The hotel we chose had a lot of monkeys. It became a motif that was fun to explore."
Following Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya McQuoid’s dramatic death in Season 2, fans had been eager to see if any characters would make a return. Enter Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda, the spa manager from Season 1, who finds herself back in The White Lotus universe. Mike White shared that bringing Belinda back felt like a way to honor Tanya’s memory. “We were sad that Jennifer died in the last episode… There was a hope to keep her alive in some way. I had this idea that maybe by bringing Belinda back, we could do that."
For Rothwell, the opportunity was an easy yes. “Mike was in town for the Emmys for Season 1… and during dinner, he’s like, ‘I think I might want to bring Belinda back.’ And I was just like, ‘Say less. Like, I’ll be there.’" Unlike in Season 1, where Belinda was a resort employee, she now arrives at The White Lotus in Thailand as somewhat of a guest. “We get to see Belinda outside of her work uniform. She’s able to be a guest. And I think when people travel, they often try on versions of themselves that they may not otherwise."
Michelle Monaghan (Jaclyn), Leslie Bibb (Kate), and Carrie Coon (Laurie) play three lifelong friends on a vacation meant to rekindle their bond—but their trip may prove more unraveling than restorative. “If these women had walked into the villa and said, ‘Listen, this is what’s going on with me right now’ and started off in this honest and authentic way, then it would have been a very different vacation; But that’s not what happens," Coon explained.
The pressure to maintain appearances is a key theme. Monaghan noted, “We’re conditioned to constantly judge ourselves, to be competitive with ourselves and one another, and always looking at each other and ourselves and saying, ‘Am I enough? Can I be doing it better?’"
One of the season’s sharpest moments involves Kate dodging a question about her political beliefs. Bibb explained, “Her need to have the approval of these two women, and I think deeper than that, the respect of these two women, is so important to her."
Walton Goggins (Rick Hatchett) and Aimee Lou Wood (Chelsea) play a couple whose relationship teeters between devotion and dysfunction. "Rick has spent years running from his past," Goggins teased. “Thailand is where everything catches up to him." Aimee Lou Wood, who plays the unwaveringly loyal Chelsea, explained, “She sees Rick as her soulmate, no matter what the world says."
Meanwhile, Lalisa Manobal (Mook), better known as Lisa from Blackpink, makes her acting debut as a health mentor at The White Lotus, opposite Tayme Thapthimthong (Gaitok), a resort security guard who has been in love with her since childhood. “I was so nervous," Lalisa shared. “English isn’t my first language, but everyone was so supportive." Tayme Thapthimthong described their dynamic: “Gaitok has always had a crush on Mook but never knew if she felt the same way. He has to take the risk."
Every season of The White Lotus introduces a wealthy family whose carefully curated image begins to unravel over the course of their vacation. This time, it's the Ratliffs, a powerful Southern dynasty led by Timothy (Jason Isaacs) and Victoria (Parker Posey), vacationing with their three children—Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), and Lochlan (Sam Nivola). On the surface, they present as an ultra-successful family, but according to Isaacs, Mike White’s writing ensures they are more than just "eat-the-rich" archetypes.
"Mike rather brilliantly introduces what seem like one-dimensional characters, and then he adds things to it, and he peels the layers away, and he puts them in impossible pressure-cooker situations until the only thing that can emerge is their essential humanity," Jason Isaacs explained. As the family patriarch, Timothy Ratliff is a Durham, North Carolina businessman who carries an air of power. Isaacs took the role seriously, ensuring his accent reflected regional nuance. "It's Durham, North Carolina. So I went, and I looked at all the representatives who represented that place, and I found the town mayors," he shared. "There are some vowels that are very specific to Durham that are kind of anomalous. I have friends in the South who hate it when actors do a generalized wash of Kentucky Fried Chicken accents, so I tried to make it specific."
Meanwhile, Victoria Ratliff (Posey) is trying to keep her family together, even as her children drift in different directions. "I'm not a mother in real life. I mother my friends, and I think women are all mothers. So there is something like me stepping into this role of mother and feeling out, through her children, what they represent in the family as a whole," Posey said.
As the eldest son, Saxon Ratliff (Schwarzenegger) is being groomed to take over the family business, but he struggles with his image. "He’s that frat kind of Southern douche guy, but also someone that you would laugh at and enjoy watching on the screen," Schwarzenegger said. "Mike didn’t want him to be just someone that everyone hates. He wanted people to laugh at him, like him, and enjoy him, so that when things take a turn, it’s unexpected."
Saxon’s presence looms over his younger siblings, particularly Piper (Hook), who is undergoing a spiritual awakening that puts her at odds with the family's materialistic values. "From the beginning, Mike always said to me, 'She's the most normal out of the family,' which honestly… at first, I was like, 'Aw man, I don't get to be wacky like these guys.' But it felt necessary to have someone who wasn't," Hook said. Piper’s interest in Buddhism provides a stark contrast to her parents' world of power and excess.
For Lochlan (Nivola), the youngest Ratliff, the family dynamic is built on distance. "I think the interesting thing about our family in this show is that we’re a very, very wealthy family, and that often comes with a certain amount of disconnection from one another," Nivola said. Now forced to spend an extended period together in Thailand, tensions within the Ratliff family come to a head. “We’re not necessarily that close with one another, at least the three siblings going into this vacation. And then it’s really like a sort of petri dish. You just plop us in where we have to be so close. We’re literally sharing a room," Nivola revealed. Schwarzenegger, laughing, added: "We share more than a room."
With the Ratliffs facing their own internal reckoning while staying at The White Lotus, their wealth and privilege may not be enough to save them from the season’s inevitable chaos.
“There are moments in this show that will have people screaming at their TVs," Natasha Rothwell promised. And that’s exactly the kind of delicious chaos fans of The White Lotus love to see. The wait is almost over, with Season 3 premiering on Sunday, February 16th, at 9/8c on HBO, simultaneously streaming on Max.