A new group of guests will be checking in to The White Lotus – and there’s a sprinkling of magic, some serious blockbuster credentials and a cult favourite among the faces.
On Friday (January 5), HBO announced a brand new cast for the highly anticipated third instalment of the anthology series.
And *spoiler alert incoming* anyone worried that the show couldn’t thrive without Jennifer Coolidge, the only actress to have starred in the first two seasons, there’s plenty of big names to get excited about.
The third season of the hit HBO series has added six new cast members. Joining the new season are Leslie Bibb (who fans might know from the likes of Iron Man and Jupiter’s Legacy), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter films), Michelle Monaghan (of Gone Baby Gone and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Parker Posey (from You’ve Got Mail and The Staircase), Tayme Thapthimthong (Skin Trade) and Dom Hetrakul (Bangkok Dangerous).
The new additions join returning actress Natasha Rothwell, who is reprising the role of Belinda from the first series of the show. Belinda didn’t appear in the second season but fans will remember her as the spa manager who made a deal with Jennifer Coolidge’s character to go into business together.
The flighty Tanya – Jennifer Coolidge’s rich heiress character – ended up negging on the deal, leaving Belinda out in the cold.
Of course, things didn’t work out too well for Tanya in season two… who was the target of a murder plot by her husband. While she outsmarted the hitmen hired to kill her, she ended up slipping and falling to her death, drowning in the Sicilian waters.
Where is The White Lotus season 3 set?
After the seeming paradise of Maui turned deadly in season one, and the enchanting Sicily turned sour in season two, more dark turns and sinister twists will come to a third White Lotus location in Thailand for season three.
The show is set to begin production in and around Koh Samui, Phuket, and Bangkok, Thailand, in February 2024.
Exact plot details are being kept under wraps aside from the fact it will follow the newly announced group of guests at another (we’re guessing, doomed) White Lotus resort.
During a HBO Max featurette after the final episode of season two aired in 2023, Mike White did tease, “The first season we highlighted money and then the second season is sex and I think the third season, it would be maybe a kind of satirical and funny look at death in Eastern religion and spirituality — it feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus.”
Will any other previous cast members return?
While details are kept secret for now, creator Mike White hasn’t ruled out other cast members coming back to join the likes of Belinda.
Connie Britton, who played the powerful CEO Nicole Mossbacher in the first season, revealed in June last year that, while she didn't reprise her role in season 2, she gave fans hope for a possible revival in the future.
“[Mike White] wanted me to be in the second season, and there was an idea that I loved for the character,” said Connie. “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 spin-off on every character in that show.”
