Parker Posey and Walton Goggins get high to find escapist enlightenment

On December 17, 2024By Littum

Guests at The White Lotus in Thailand have already started checking in.

Season 3 of the beloved anthology series, created by Mike White, debuted its first teaser on Monday. This time, “The White Lotus” travels to Thailand for an installment that has 13 cast members, including Season 1 returning Natasha Rothwell.

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Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Parker Posey, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan and Jason Isaacs are among the busy cast members who will become entangled in murder, mystery and deception. “The White Lotus” will premiere in 2025.

Thailand is a fantastic setting for “The White Lotus” – with even greater savings. Japanese producer Georgina Pope said at the Tokyo Film Festival that White was courted for a $4.4 million tax break to film in Thailand, not Japan.

“The White Lotus” creator White previously teased Weekly entertainment that the season will be a “super-sized ‘White Lotus.’ It gets longer, bigger, crazier. I don’t know what people will think, but I’m super excited, so at least for my own barometer, that’s a good thing.”

The third installment will focus on “death and Eastern religion and spirituality,” which White previously shared during a post-season 2 finale. “The first season highlighted money, and the second season is sex,” White said. “I think maybe the third season would be 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 on White Lotus.”

Season 3 Cast Coon told Vanity Fair that the episode is even more “about death” than the blood-stained blowout that was Season 2.

“I think he’s playing with some really interesting dynamics,” Coon said of White’s vision for the third season. “I think it’s something he would continue to do if they let him, because I think he’d like to get bigger and more international and put together weirder groups of people – that’s what he’s passionate about too,” she said. “And I think it’s important in this world to see people fighting each other like this. Of course he satirizes rich white people and he does it very well. He really speaks to people who need to be spoken to in a really interesting way. He had a season about money; he had a season about sex. And this is his season about death.”

And Coon is only an important part of the intricate ensemble cast. “The White Lotus” casting director Meredith Tucker told IndieWire in August 2023 that she and White are “making lists” of dream casting.

“But it’s not like he’s saying, ‘Ok, let’s make an offer to this person, this person, this person,'” Tucker said. “Even with the named people, he likes to talk it through, and he very much likes everyone to read. Obviously, some people won’t read, but some people who normally wouldn’t read are willing to to read because they want to be a part of it and that’s very important to him. He likes not only to see the actors, he also likes to hear the dialogue. It also helps him as a writer, so it’s been an important part of the process and will continue to be to be. I don’t think the MO is going to change at all. As the seasons go on, it will still be the same – maybe a few people will get offers. I always like to give new ones people opportunities, people who are not so well known.”

“The White Lotus” season 3 premieres on February 16 on Max. See the teaser below.

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