The White Lotus was greenlit in October 2020 as a miniseries but was adapted to an anthology series by HBO in August 2021: its second season aired from October 30 to December 11, 2022, and its third season from February 16 until April 6, 2025, being delayed by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike. The series has been renewed for a fourth season. It is available on Max at the same time as the linear broadcast.
The series has been acclaimed by critics for its writing, acting, characters, humor, and production values and has received several accolades: it has won fifteen Primetime Emmy Awards – including for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series – and two Golden Globes, including for Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film. Coolidge won several awards for her performance in the first two seasons, including two Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe, and Murray Bartlett also won an Emmy for his performance in the first season, while White won three Emmys for his writing, directing, and producing.
Each season is set at a different White Lotus resort hotel, and is mostly self-contained, with some characters returning. Each season tells the story of the guests and staff during a week spent at the White Lotus, whose interactions are affected by their various psychosocial dysfunctions. After each passing day, a darker complexity slowly emerges in the hotel's employees, their wealthy guests, and the idyllic locale itself.
Development of the show began after the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, when Casey Bloys, HBO's head of programming, asked Mike White if he had any ideas for a show that could be shot in a bubble environment under lockdown conditions.[36][37]
The show's concept was "partly inspired" by White's work on an earlier proposed series which was never picked up by any network: The Tears of St. Patsy, which would have featured Jennifer Coolidge "as a frustrated actor navigating a dangerous world".[38]
The initial problem White faced was where to set and shoot the show.[36] White did not like commuting to a San Fernando Valley studio to shoot Enlightened (2011–2013)—though he is still proud of his work on that show—and wanted to take his next HBO project to exotic locations.[37]
The first idea was Australia, but eight-week-long work visas (the longest available at the time in 2020) were not long enough to shoot a full season.[36] The second idea was Hawaii.[36] At the time, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts was the only hotel operator in the state of Hawaii willing to allow HBO to take over a luxury hotel property for 13 weeks to shoot a new television series with an unknown plot.[36] No scripts had been finished, and at that point all the production team had was a "nondescript first episode".[36] But the show promised to bring some money to the hotel, which was preferable to staying closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.[36]
At the beginning, "there was no money to make the show", so the producers decided to staff the show with an ensemble cast where "everyone is treated the same", paid the same, and gets "alphabetical billing".[37] All actors (regardless of prominence) must participate in auditions for their roles on the show, but they audition separately and there are no chemistry tests.[37][39] The cast has to trust White's casting instincts and make it work when they finally meet one another at a Four Seasons resort.[37][39] All regular cast members work "at scale"—reportedly, roughly $40,000 per episode—and that rule is "not negotiable".[37] The producers knew some actors cannot accept such conditions and they "can't hold it against people who need to make a living", but imposing this system up front and continuing it into subsequent seasons enabled the producers to focus on casting "people who want to do the project for the right reasons".[37]
The show has since changed locations and casts each season, with very little continuity between them apart from the show's basic elements: "a social satire and a murder mystery" that is always set at a White Lotus resort and always begins with an unidentified corpse.[38] The consistent theme is White's "semi-satirical" tone, but each season has been radically different from the previous ones, requiring "fans to transfer their loyalty to an almost entirely new show".[38] About the lack of continuity, White explained: "This is, like, my dream gig. Because I can burn down the house at the end of every season and begin again".[38] Before production began for each season, White stayed at the relevant Four Seasons resort to do research and write the scripts for that season.[40]
On October 19, 2020, HBO gave The White Lotus a limited series order that consisted of six episodes.[41] The series was created, written and directed by White, who also serves as executive producer alongside David Bernad and Nick Hall.[42]
On August 10, 2021, HBO renewed the series for a second season,[43] which consists of seven episodes.[44]
On November 18, 2022, HBO renewed the series for a third season. It was announced that the season would take place at a resort in Thailand.[45] The third season's production was disrupted by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, resulting in the release being pushed to 2025.[46][47] The story that season was originally set to feature the brief mention of one character having a nonbinary child, however this was later cut due to a political "vibe shift" coinciding with the election of President Donald Trump in November 2024.[37][48][49] White further explained that "there's a lot of stuff that ended up being cut" from every episode.[37] As written and filmed, the initial cuts were coming in at about an hour and 40 minutes in length.[37] He needed to be "hard on the material", speed up the pace of the narrative, and get episode lengths down to about 60 minutes, though they were still "bulging" with plot points.[37]
During filming in Thailand, White pitched a fourth season over dinner in Phuket to Bloys, now the chairman and chief executive officer of HBO, and Francesca Orsi, executive vice president for drama programming.[50]
On January 22, 2025, ahead of the third-season premiere, HBO renewed the series for a fourth season.[51] In February, Orsi said that they were about to start scouting locations for the fourth season and indicated that a return to Europe was "likely".[50]
The creation of the show during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in two major differences from the traditional process for shooting American television shows. First, American filmmakers often control costs by filming only establishing shots at expensive locations and then filming the majority of shots on sound stages in cheaper locations.[40] Second, when a lengthy shoot on location is necessary, the cast normally stays in long-term rented accommodations away from the sets.[73] In the case of The White Lotus, the success of the first season meant that White was able to insist on continuing to shoot subsequent seasons on location at Four Seasons resorts, despite the high cost.[40] Another oddity carried over from the first season is that the cast stays at the Four Seasons resort for the duration of filming, meaning they are actually living together on set at the White Lotus for several months in a luxury "theatre camp" atmosphere.[73] This became expensive for some of the regular cast members, since HBO pays for hotel rooms but not incidental expenses.[73]
Having filmed in a tightly secured bubble for the first season, the producers were not strict enough with script security during the second season; for example, too many people on set knew it would be the final season for Coolidge's character, Tanya.[37] For the third season, the script supervisor wrote up "crazy fake endings" that were distributed on set, and the only people on set who knew the real endings were the actors involved in those scenes.[37]
The third season was filmed in Thailand, in part due to the series receiving a $4.4 million tax incentive for filming there.[74] Filming began in February 2024, mainly at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, with other locations including Bangkok and Phuket,[75][76][77][78] and wrapped in August 2024.[79] This was the first season for which Four Seasons openly promoted its connection to the show, since the company had seen increased web traffic, bookings, and occupancy rates at its Maui and Sicily resorts after they were featured on the show.[36]
Chilean-Canadian composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer was hired by White to score the first season.[80] For the second season, Tapia de Veer collaborated with his manager Kim Neundorf to finish original compositions due to his own scheduling conflicts.[81] Singer Stephanie Osorio provided the vocals.[82] Tapia de Veer returned again for the third season, but later announced that he would not return for later seasons due to creative differences.[83]
According to Vulture, the costs of production for the second season remained at under US$3 million per episode, the same as the first season. Italy, where the second season was filmed, offers up to 40% tax credit to foreign productions taking place in the country.[84]
According to The Hollywood Reporter, episodes in season three cost somewhere from US$6 to US$7 million to make.[37] The third season's post-production work occurred on the island of Kauai, in an improvised editing bay in a timeshare unit across the street from White's house,[38] which qualified for a $550,000 tax credit from the government of Hawaii.[85]
The series premiered on July 11, 2021, on HBO and HBO Max.[86] In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the series premiered on Sky Atlantic on August 16, 2021.[87] The second season premiered on October 30, 2022.[88] The third season premiered on February 16, 2025, with episodes airing weekly.[89][90][45]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 90% for the first season of The White Lotus based on 97 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Though its true intentions can get a bit murky, gorgeous vistas, twisty drama, and a pitch perfect cast make The White Lotus a compelling—if uncomfortable—viewing destination."[92] On Metacritic, the season has a score of 82 out of 100 based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[93]
For the second season, Rotten Tomatoes reported a 94% approval rating with an average score of 8.2/10, based on 123 reviews. The website's critics consensus states, "Swapping its tropical trappings for Euro chic while focusing primarily on the corrosive influence of carnal desire, The White Lotus remains a cookie full of arsenic that goes down smooth."[94] On Metacritic, the season has a score of 81 out of 100 based on 40 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[95]
For the third season, Rotten Tomatoes reported an 86% approval rating with an average score of 7.7/10, based on 181 reviews. The website's critics consensus states, "Darker and more patient with its storytelling than previous seasons while brandishing a superb new ensemble full of acidic performances, The White Lotus' third season offers a spiritual respite that shivs the soul."[96] On Metacritic, the season has a score of 77 out of 100 based on 44 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[97]
^Nordyke, Kimberly (January 15, 2024). "Emmy Awards: Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 15, 2024. Retrieved January 16, 2024.