Spoiler alert: The following article discusses the entirety of “The White Lotus” Season 2.
As everyone’s time at “The White Lotus” officially comes to a close in Sicily (some more permanently than others), some of TheWrap’s writers decided to vote on where we’d like to see the buzzy, Mike White-led dark comedy series go next.
With each season, the HBO series’ locale has been intrinsically tied with its exploration of socioeconomic, political and cultural issues. In Season 1, the Four Seasons in Maui served as a backdrop to explore the historical roots of colonialism against Native Indigenous Hawaiians, as well as wealth disparity. For Season 2, the anthology traversed the warm Italian coast to delve into culturally specific misogyny — “The Godfather” dissections and all — as well as the gendered politics of sex.
Read on for our best guesses, along with one White has said that he’s keen on exploring. For everything we know about Season 3 thus far, click here.
Ski Resort — Possible locations: Swiss Alps; Vail or Aspen, Colorado; Megève, France
The masses on Twitter really want this one to happen, with some joking that “The White Lotus” Season 3 and “Knives Out 3” are in a time-sensitive bid to lay claim on a remote, wintery destination first. Aside from the hilarity that would inevitably ensue seeing inordinately wealthy people struggle with any number of snow equipment (skis, snowmobiles, just generally walking in fresh snow with improper footwear and dragging luggage through it), it would provide a fresh environment — both in terms of biome and perspective — on the rich and terrible. Set in a luxurious ski-in, ski-out resort, whether in the U.S. or abroad, “The White Lotus” Season 3 could tackle accessibility issues, ableism and the universal idea that very few people could pull off an ushanka hat.
Asia – Possible locations: Japan, Thailand, a culturally appropriating predominantly white yoga studio
Back in October, White teased a location in Asia as possible fertile soil for Season 3. While we now know that Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), our tie-in between the two seasons, does not survive, the executive producer-writer had said at the time that “maybe you can’t go to Japan without Jennifer,” after carrying the actress’ character over from Hawaii to Italy. Since then, White has doubled down on the locale: “The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex, and I think the third season would be maybe a kind of satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality, and it feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus,” he said in the finale explainer video. Just as with Season 1, the setting could also provide a wealth of storytelling surrounding Orientalism, American exceptionalism, cultural appropriation and more.
As an addendum, in the finale, Daphne (Meghann Fahey) remarks that the group’s next vacation destination should be the Maldives. A breakout character this season, especially for her nuanced expressions and razor-sharp line delivery, many online expressed that they’d like her to be next season’s mainstay; given how the couples’ time at the resort went, however, it’s more likely that she’d leave her husband (and Ethan and Harper) at home for a girls’ trip.
Outer space
This one is summed up easily: “Meghann Fahey in a spacesuit.” However, should more be required to convince you of this point, here goes: With the Blue Origin journeys of actor William Shatner and billionaire Jeff Bezos, who crossed the Kármán Line that most regard as the end of our Earth’s atmosphere, the ultra-rich have been carving out a space (pun intended) to monopolize and capitalize on the galaxy. Adding Elon Musk into the equation, who’s said he wants to terraform and colonize Mars, the idea of a mini-staycation in a pseudo-shuttle doesn’t seem so far-fetched. While films like “Interstellar” and “Gravity” have showcased our technological advancements in rendering space on the screen, Shatner and other momentary astronauts only counted some 11 minutes actually above the delineation, so some stretching of the imagination would be required to set a whole season here. Aside from the clear wealth of commentary on the inequitable progress of and commercialization of space travel, it would just really be fun to see a one-percenter left floating for all eternity.
Safari retreat
While Daphne and Harper sip on aperol spritzes and dwell on womanhood during their girls-only excursion to Noto, Daphne recalls watching a bull elephant be kicked out of its pack during her and Cameron’s African safari trip. While Daphne brought up her vacation to voice a pretty glum observation — that men think they are doing something really important but are just wandering alone — we think an African safari would be ground zero for a White-approved commentary on the hospitality industry’s long-standing ties with hunting and ongoing ethical dilemmas. Just imagine whatever version of Cam (Theo James) or Shane (Jake Lacy) Season 3 whips up going too far and killing an endangered species — and the subsequent spiral from his partner or friends as they let his actions sink in. We can even picture White layering in a critique of voluntourism and white saviorism during a day trip to a local school or orphanage where the show’s resident Daphne or Nicole Mossbacher (Connie Britton) gushes at the once in a lifetime opportunity to truly help less fortunate people.
The inside of a trial courtroom prosecuting the suspicious deaths at a certain luxury hotel chain
How many more individuals are going to willfully vacation at a White Lotus, knowing that a trail of dead bodies leads out of its chain locations’ lobby foyers? There’s only so much bad press, Waystar Royco-ing and No RPI logic the hotel can withstand and employ. After those loose ends in Season 2 regarding the conspiracy of Tanya’s death, White said leaving Quentin, Niccoló and Didier dead on the boat “feels like there’s gotta be somebody who’s gonna track it back down to Greg.” Even though White admitted Portia might be “scared enough to just leave it alone,” fans are already theorizing that Portia is the one to bring him to justice in Season 3. While going to law enforcement might seem too risky for the ever-terrified Portia, she could instead take matters to the court by suing the White Lotus for allowing the scammers to disguise themselves as guests and swindle Tanya. That’s not how you treat a Blossom Circle member!
Then, there’s the Belinda connection: Addressed in a one-off comment by Tanya (R.I.P.), Natasha Rothwell’s character finally has her vindication in an unseen part of the White Lotus universe, with Twitter users gleefully pointing out how quite literally none of this would have happened if Tanya kept her word and invested in Belinda’s small business. Perhaps she could be contacted to testify about Tanya’s character; regardless, it’s nice knowing that somewhere out there, she’s at peace.
