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“The White Lotus” season 2 concluded this Sunday, ending the most talked about show that’s currently airing. The series, created by Mike White, follows a group of wealthy guests at White Lotus hotel, with each season taking on a new batch of stories, locations and characters.
New stories
While season 2 just ended, the show has already been renewed for season 3. And while there’s very little we know about the upcoming season, White discussed the series finale with HBO and talked about the themes of that the new season could take on.
“The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” White said. “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.’”
New setting
Setting and location play a pivotal part in each season of “The White Lotus.” Season 1 was set in Hawaii and was heavily concerned with race, privilege, and power. Season 2 ended up being all about sex after White spent some time in Sicily and got inspired by the testa di moro sculptures.
“Originally, I had a different concept,” he said to the New York Times. “And then when I went to Sicily, those testa di moro sculptures [figurines inspired by a folk legend about sexual infidelity] are everywhere. It felt like a place where some classic male-female stories could be told with contemporary characters.”
In an interview with Deadline, White said Japan could serve as a novel location for the third series. “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,” he said.
The possibility of recurring characters
The season finale featured one unexpected twist. Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), one of only two characters that was featured in the first season, died after having killed her kidnappers. She tried to jump off a boat and ended up hitting herself in the head, resulting in the tragic yet hilarious demise of the series’ most famous character.
White talked about some new characters that could recur on season three, but kept things pretty open-ended. “It’s possible that Portia (Tanya’s assistant played by Haley Lu Richardson) 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 down to Greg (Jon Gries). But maybe you’ll have to wait to find out what happens,” he said.