“The White Lotus” will welcome a new group of guests to a new resort in Thailand when it returns to HBO and Max on Sunday, but the series has transported viewers in real life as its luxurious locales have become vacation hot spots beyond the TV screen.
Since its premiere in 2021, Mike White’s award-winning anthology series has delighted and shocked viewers with its pointed take on money, sex and power, set against exotic backdrops like southern Italy, Hawaii — and now Thailand.
While the show has been a boon for Warner Bros. Discovery, driving ratings, revenue and corporate partnerships, the so-called “White Lotus” effect has also provided a boost to the local economies of the sun-drenched places where the show films.