I've watched the first 6 episodes of The White Lotus season 3 - here's what to expect.
IS TANYA STILL ALIVE!?: my non-spoiler thoughts, review + cool behind-the-scenes facts about season 3 I learned at The White Lotus press conference.
omg finally.
with season 2 of severance airing on apple tv+ right now and the white lotus season 3 premiering on MAX tonight, we now have 2 hours of escapism a week into some of the best worlds created in modern television.
and let’s be real 2025 is already giving 2020’s chic “calm before the storm” chaos, so it’s nice to be able to watch other people navigate fictional tribulations to make us feel better about ourselves lol.
i’m trying to stop using “lol” because it’s so embarrassingly millennial, so if you’re gen z and reading this please comment below and let me know how I should move forward with this internal struggle. thanks.
if you’re just meeting me or have no idea who I am - i’m a tv + film critic and entertainment journalist. i’m in the critics choice association, i’ve interviewed the casts of hundreds of films and tv shows and recommended shows and films on The Today Show, as well as covered awards shows like the Emmys + Oscars live on TV for E! Entertainment. I attended a press conference for The White Lotus this week, and am sharing my thoughts on the first 6 episodes of this season below along with cool behind the scenes facts I found interesting. I will never spoil any major plot points (I can’t stand people that do that) but will reference small things to come and expect so you’re safe.
when I first got the episodes weeks ago, I immediately cleared my schedule.
upon watching episode 1, I was disappointed that the song to the opening sequence of the show - that is an absolute banger and has been remixed in clubs around the world - got a new remix that just doesn’t hit like the original and the italian one did for seasons 1+2. the opening song for season 3 grows on you as you’ll continue to watch episodes every sunday night, but the song this season feels emblematic of the first 6 episodes of season 3 as a whole. it’s still classic juicy white lotus, still highly entertaining and engaging, but the first 6 episodes of this season just didn’t HIT for me like seasons 1+2. but that could be for a number of reasons…
I read another critique that said something along the lines of “The White Lotus season 3 is a victim of it’s own success.” the bar is sooo high for the white lotus, and even though the first 6 episodes are a slow burn, I can tell you that by episode 6 I started to feel like “ok shit’s about to go down…” so I can’t accurately compare it to the other seasons just yet, until I see the last 2 episodes.
White Lotus season 3 is 8 episodes long. and the run time of the episodes also feel longer.
The White Lotus Season 1 had 6 episodes and was set in Hawaii (Maui).
The White Lotus Season 2 had 7 episodes and was set in Italy (Sicily).
The White Lotus Season 3 has 8 episodes, making it the longest season yet, and is set in Thailand.
we’re also following and invested in more characters this season.
The White Lotus season 3 features the largest ensemble cast of the series to date. the main cast includes 14 actors, with additional recurring roles expanding the ensemble further. in comparison, Season 1 had 10 main cast members, and Season 2 featured 11.
Mike White the creator AND writer AND director of the show is a genius. he has maintained full creative control over the show, which has been a signature element of its success. at the press conference, you could feel how much pressure mike felt making season 3.
mike white: “you're looking at somebody who has like, just, just crossed the finish line of, like, the hardest race he's ever run.”
he explained why season 3 was the hardest, and I paraphrase:
mike white: “it was harder because well, the show's longer, it was more. there's more of the show, more characters, more… Thailand was a beautiful place to shoot, but it was also very, had a lot of challenges. And you know, the writers strike was in the middle of it. It's just a lot going on in my life, too. I just think it was just like life. It takes over your life. I mean two years of your life. I feel proud to be just sitting here, honestly, to be, to have like, got through it. Because there were days I was like, I don't know, am I going to even, I might, I could like, maybe I'll just die today? I don't know. So, like, I yeah. So I'm proud that I got through it.”
I don’t know what was going on in his personal life, but this season is still an absolute triumph for one person to be creating, writing, directing, and casting it! he’s insane and i’m so happy we have artists like him in the world. for him to have that much creative control and a million people not mess with his vision is why it’s so good - a luxury most artists like me dream of.
what makes the white lotus so good and mike white the best at what he does though, is he’s led by his intuition when it comes to casting. no one is better than him at casting. he casts actors that basically are or in someway embody the energy of the characters that he creates.
he’s huge on energy and the enneagram - he told leslie bibb who plays kate this season that she was an 8 on the enneagram scale. she said: what’s an 8? he said take this enneagram test…
leslie bibb at the press conference: “enneagram test. And I was like, Kate's an eight, I'm not an eight, I'm not an eight. I am this. And then I take this stupid test and I'm an eight too. And he was like, I knew it. You are an eight-four-three. And I was like, I am an eight-four-three! And I was like, How do you? But he just, he really has this ability, to see you. To see you in the part. Like, Michelle was Jaclyn. Carrie is Laurie, and I am Kate.”
it’s so obvious now when you look back at Jennifer Coolidge’s character from seasons 1+2. I mean, jennifer IS tanya.
while we’re on the topic of the 3 female friends on the show - Jaclyn, Carrie, and Laurie - their dynamic is my favorite to watch this season. I thought mike white was such a genius for creating this trio. 3 is such a spiritual number (father, son, holy ghost, or mind, body and spirit) and thailand + this season has a lot of spiritual themes, which you know I was of course obsessed with. my two worlds collide. hehe.
their dynamic was the best to watch for me because I remember telling my coach that I HATE being in groups of 3. I soooo much rather hang out either in a large group, or with people 1:1. I've come a long way in learning how to love and navigate that energy, but the reason I hated the energy of a 'three-person' dynamic is because of how it plays out between these women in the show. two of them being on the same side at various times, and one person feeling like the oddball out. god, it’s all so good and mike white captured the pitfalls of “3” energy so accurately with these characters. their dynamic also begs the question: can you be friends with someone who has different values than you? it’s crazy to me that most people can’t hold paradox in this way. you’ll see as you follow this season, how things collide when your friends from childhood change. and I hope the takeaway here is that we can all still love each other even when our values change. I also just LOVE that jaclyn’s dating a younger guy in the show. more on why I love that in another personal post.
while we’re on the topic of the enneagram, my second favorite character on the show is amy lou wood’s character chelsea. chelsea’s an aries (like me) and loves the enneagram (also like me - i’m a 4) and she’s the literal archetype of my old self: a girl obsessed with the cosmos and stuck in fantasy. believing someone is your soulmate even though they may not be good for you. and wanting to save them.
the relationship between chelsea and rick (played by walton goggins) is an interesting one to witness - it feels like more and more we’re seeing older men date younger woman in real life and vice versa, so I love that that dynamic is present this season.
when I was at the press conference, watching aimee lou wood and walton goggins interact literally felt like I was watching rick and chelsea in real life. the moderator asked: “it felt like you two know each other really well. did you have any rehearsal time?”
aimee lou wood: “we didn't. And this is the thing is that Mike is so clever with casting. I think he really leads with his intuition because there's no like chemistry tests or anything like that. It was just, he just, I think he just goes, you and you. And I was told like by someone, if Walton hadn't been Rick, that I wouldn't have been Chelsea.”
aimee did go to walton’s terrace to hang out before filming and they shared that they just vibed and listened to music.
walton goggins: “I mean, I think that's the thing, right? You know, like the first time I laid eyes on her and I think vice versa, it was like, wow. Soul. Soul soul.”
aimee lou wood: “past lives.”
walton goggins: “past lives. tribe, like tribe.”
aimee lou wood: “scorpio sun, scorpio moon.”
it was so funny to witness that convo up close, irl, after having watched most of this season ^. and the chemistry is just so oddly there between their characters.
the best character on the show - and thank god for her presence - is parker posey’s character: victoria ratliff. the matriarch of the Ratliff family who have checked into the white lotus this season. I was SHOCKED to find out that parker posey isn’t a mother in real life. she plays MOM SOOO WELL:
parker posey: “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 what, through her children, what they represent in the family as a whole.”
what was also wild is that her and patrick schwarzenegger - who plays her son saxon ratliff - both starred in netflix’s limited true crime series the staircase based on the real life michael peterson. the thing that is wild is that in real-life and in THAT show there is also the presence of a family with the last name Ratliff. crazy coincidence.
The Ratliff family are kind of the center of the show this season - at least it feels like that to me. they’re from north carolina and jason issacs - who’s one of my favorite actors (I love him in the OA) and plays timothy the patriarch, NAILS the durham, north carolina accent.
he spoke about the work and inspo he pulled from to find the accent:
jason isaacs: “well 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.
…but I had a bunch of people because there are some vowels that are very specific to Durham that are kind of anomalous. And you're right, I have friends in the South who hate it when actors do a generalized wash of Kentucky Fried Chicken accents. So I try to make it specific. I was very lucky to have Parker there too.”
parker posey is from louisiana.
the weird “incestuous” vibes you get from The Ratliff siblings (another fun trio) is so deliciously cringe to watch as the episodes progress. all i’ll say is, this setup from episode 1, most certainly pays off to my standards by episode 6.
patrick schwarzenegger who plays saxon ratliff (who reminds me of jake lacy’s character shane patton from season 1) shared at the press conference that he didn’t actually talk to his family at all about his character. his dad is arnold schwarzenegger and his mom is maria shriver. I personally can’t wait for them to see him in episodes 5 +6. this is what he said:
patrick schwarzenegger: “but I think that, yeah, episode five and six, there'll be some times that I take some bathroom breaks when the family, or maybe I won't watch that episode with, I don't know, we'll see.”
also as someone who regularly does digital detox’s off my phone, seeing this family represent most people in the world who are addicted to their phones and technology (especially on vacation) was hilarious to me.
what I found fascinating about the show being set in thailand and learned from natasha rothwell who plays Belinda (YAY SHE’S BACK!) is that:
natasha rothwell: “thailand has never been colonized. And to be shooting and working in a country that isn't constantly trying to heal from like, you know, historical trauma, you feel that lightness, you feel that acceptance, you feel that peace. So it was really wonderful to be there, to experience a place like that.”
I couldn’t help but wonder—one of the best things about this season is seeing all the chaos play out, juxtaposed against the serene, peaceful, zen, Buddhist backdrop of Thailand and its people. I also love places that attract really high opposing energies. thailand is like ibiza (i’ve been to both), you’ve got people who go there to party, forget or hide who they are. and then you’ve got people who go there who are literally trying to find themselves and seek out meaning and stillness. it’s an enticing energetic tug-of-war, and it makes for the perfect, tension-filled setting for a TV show.
what I love about natasha rothwell is that she’s a comedic genius and also a writer, and she shared that mike white wanted to keep tanya’s presence (jennifer coolidge’s character from season 1 +2) in the show (if you’ve seen episode 1 you’ll know what I mean about this) and also BRING BELINDA BACK because so many fans were bummed about how her story ended in season 1.
natasha shared she loves working with mike white for many reasons, one of them being that mike knows he’s not a black woman. natasha is also a writer and I could tell she infused so much into belinda this season and fleshed out the character more. I asked her a question at the press conference about a moment where her character see’s other black characters at the hotel:
me: hi. you're so fabulous.
natasha rothwell: thank you.
me: because of what you shared, I just wanted to ask you a follow up on, like, what you personally contributed, because that moment when Belinda sees other black guests at the hotel... Felt so authentic, right? And what you were saying about Mike. So what did you specifically, you know, put into the character this season?”
natasha rothwell: I pitched that moment. You know, I remember telling Mike a story about when I went to Ireland and I was on some hill with fog and some castle, and there was not a black person to be seen. And this black family sort of emerged from the mist. And I just walked towards them and we hugged without speaking. And then we pulled away. I was like, Do you even speak English? Just like, Yes. And I learned that she and her husband were taking their kids abroad and letting them learn from the world. And I've had that happen so many times. It even happened while we were shooting "The White Lotus". You know, it's a very homogenous country, not a lot of black people. And so there was a black guest who was staying at the same hotel that we were shooting at and again, walked up to her and gave her a hug. I might have a problem with hugging strangers, but I just in telling him that I think it emphasized the importance of black travel and seeing black people in spaces. And that moment for Belinda, it's an opportunity for her to see what's possible. It's her sort of thinking about that, and I think that's why representation and visibility is so important because it allows you to imagine yourself in situations that you may not ordinarily find yourself. You know, the first time I saw a black family in first class, I remember walking by being like, Okay, I see you. You know, like, We gone do this. So it's really cool to have that moment for Belinda to see that and sort of internalize that.
^and THAT is why I love this show so much and mike white.
there’s a part of me that’s thinking that somehow, someway, if marvel can bring back robert downey jr, and star wars brought back emperor palpatine from the dead - that there could be a wacky chance Tanya isn’t dead and we see her in the show in the finale 2 episodes!? wishful thinking on my part because we did see her character drown last season.
one thing is for sure…because of the slow burn, and mike white’s historical ability to pay everything off…I have a feeling the final two episodes are going to be some of the best White Lotus we’ve ever seen. fingers crossed.