The third season of The White Lotus, an American satirical comedy drama anthology television series, premiered on HBO on February 16, 2025. The season was greenlit in November 2022, and filmed in Bangkok, Phuket, and Ko Samui from February to August 2024. Series creator Mike White wrote and directed all eight episodes.
The season features an ensemble cast of Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Scott Glenn, Walton Goggins, Sarah Catherine Hook, Jason Isaacs, Lalisa Manobal, Michelle Monaghan, Sam Nivola, Lek Patravadi, Parker Posey, Sam Rockwell, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Tayme Thapthimthong, and Aimee Lou Wood, with Natasha Rothwell and Jon Gries reprising their roles from seasons 1 and 2. The series follows the lives of the staff and wealthy guests at a wellness resort in Thailand.
The season received mostly positive reviews from critics, but some criticized the slow pacing and found the final episode disappointing. The season won one Primetime Emmy Award (for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music) out of ten nominations, and was nominated for six Golden Globe Awards, failing to win any.
Cast and characters
Main Leslie Bibb as Kate Bohr, a country club wife from Austin, Texas, one of three longtime friends reuniting on a girls' trip Carrie Coon as Laurie Duffy, a corporate lawyer and recent divorcée from New York City, one of three longtime friends reuniting on a girls' trip Walton Goggins as Rick Hatchett, a rugged and mysterious man with a chip on his shoulder, traveling with his young girlfriend Chelsea Sarah Catherine Hook as Piper Ratliff, a college senior studying religion and the second child of Timothy and Victoria Jason Isaacs as Timothy Ratliff, a financier in jeopardy from Durham, North Carolina, vacationing with his wife, Victoria, and kids Saxon, Piper, and Lochlan Lalisa Manobal as Thidapon "Mook" Sornsin, a "health mentor" for White Lotus guests Michelle Monaghan as Jaclyn Lemon, a television actress based in Hollywood, one of three longtime friends reuniting on a girls' trip Sam Nivola as Lochlan Ratliff, a shy high school senior and Timothy and Victoria's youngest child Lek Patravadi as Sritala Hollinger, one of the owners of the White Lotus, who pioneered its health program Parker Posey as Victoria Ratliff, Timothy's wife and mother to Saxon, Piper, and Lochlan Natasha Rothwell as Belinda Lindsey, a spa manager from the White Lotus in Hawaii attending a work exchange. Rothwell reprises her role from season 1. Patrick Schwarzenegger as Saxon Ratliff, Timothy and Victoria's oldest child, who works for his father's company Tayme Thapthimthong as Gaitok, a security guard at the White Lotus Aimee Lou Wood as Chelsea, a free spirit from Manchester traveling with Rick, her older boyfriend Jon Gries as "Gary" / Greg Hunt, a man involved with Chloe and the widower of Tanya McQuoid. Gries reprises his role from seasons 1 and 2. Sam Rockwell as Frank, Rick's friend and former associate Scott Glenn as Jim Hollinger, Sritala's American husband who has recently suffered a stroke
Recurring Nicholas Duvernay as Zion Lindsey, Belinda's college-aged son who is visiting her after finishing his business degree Arnas Fedaravicius as Valentin, a Russian health mentor for Jaclyn, Laurie, and Kate Christian Friedel as Fabian, the general manager of Thailand's The White Lotus Dom Hetrakul as Pornchai, the wellness expert at the White Lotus who is assigned to train Belinda Charlotte Le Bon as Chloe, a French Canadian expat who is Greg's current partner and befriends Chelsea Morgana O'Reilly as Pam, an Australian health mentor for the Ratliffs Shalini Peiris as Amrita, a meditation teacher and spiritual counselor at the White Lotus Julian Kostov as Aleksei, Valentin's friend Yuri Kolokolnikov as Vlad, Valentin's friend Suthichai Yoon as Luang Por Teera, the head of the local Buddhist monastery Yothin Udomsanti as Pee Lek, head of security at the White Lotus and Gaitok's supervisor
Guest Carl Boudreaux and Natalie Cole as two hotel guests Christian Hubicki as a hotel guest Ke Huy Quan as the voice of Kenneth "Kenny" Nguyen, Timothy's former business partner Scott Galloway as the voice of Chuck, Timothy's lawyer Rob Carlton as Rupert, Greg's friend, a middle-aged Australian man with a young Thai girlfriend Liddy Clark as Australian woman #1 Wendy Strehlow as Australian woman #2 Praya Lundberg as Praya, girlfriend of Rupert
Episodes
Production
Development On November 18, 2022, preceding the premiere of the second season, HBO renewed The White Lotus for a third season. Following the second-season finale, series creator Mike White hinted that it would be set in Asia and invoke a "satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality", similar to how the first season focused on money and the second season on sex.
According to executive producer Mark Kamine, White decided at the outset that the third season would explore Eastern philosophy, so the original list of candidate locations included Bali, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Through various discussions and research, the list was narrowed to Japan and Thailand, and then Kamine, White, "and others" took research trips to both countries.
On one of those trips, White contracted bronchitis and was given a steroid nebulizer. While recovering, "he found himself imagining a group of Westerners who descend on Thailand in search of spiritual revival". The art seen in the opening credits was inspired by murals in Wat Suthat, one of the temples visited by the producers.
White scouted locations in other Thailand destinations but initially refused to visit Ko Samui. He had bad memories of the island, having stayed there twice before when he competed on The Amazing Race and the island was used as the show's elimination station. Since the first two seasons of The White Lotus had already been filmed at Four Seasons resorts, another producer went to scout the Four Seasons resort on the island, and eventually White was persuaded to give it a chance.
The third season's production was disrupted by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, resulting in the release being pushed to 2025.
Casting Upon the third-season renewal announcement, producers confirmed that there would be a new cast of characters in another White Lotus resort. In April 2023, Natasha Rothwell was reported to be reprising her role as Belinda for the series' third season. In January 2024, it was announced that Leslie Bibb, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Dom Hetrakul, Tayme Thapthimthong, Carrie Coon, Miloš Biković, Christian Friedel, Morgana O'Reilly, Lek Patravadi, Shalini Peiris, Walton Goggins, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood, Francesca Corney, Nicholas Duvernay, and Arnas Fedaravičius had joined the cast. Biković's casting was criticized by Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs over his alleged support for Russia's invasion of the country; he was dropped from the cast on February 2, and replaced by Julian Kostov, who appeared in a recurring capacity. In February 2024, Scott Glenn and Lalisa Manobal were cast in the season. In March 2024, Charlotte Le Bon joined the cast several weeks after shooting began to replace Corney after it became apparent that Corney was "quite petite and just going to play too young", according to casting director Meredith Tucker. The return of Jon Gries (reprising his role from seasons 1 and 2) was kept unannounced until the first episode aired. Woody Harrelson was set to play Frank, but scheduling conflicts meant he had to drop out; the part went to Sam Rockwell and was kept unannounced until March 16, 2025, when the fifth episode aired.
Wood later revealed that Chelsea was originally written as an American. During her audition, she was asked to use an American accent and her natural Mancunian accent, and White liked the latter so much that he rewrote Chelsea around Wood's accent.
Filming In March 2023, Variety reported that filming for the third season was likely to take place at one of Thailand's Four Seasons hotels. White scouted Honshu, Japan, but Thailand was chosen because the series received a $4.4 million tax incentive for filming there (Japan has no film-incentive system). Principal photography began in February 2024 with locations including Bangkok, Phuket, and Ko Samui, and wrapped in August.
The White Lotus resort in the show is a composite of scenes shot at the Four Seasons Resort in Ko Samui and scenes shot at several other resorts around that island and Phuket. The main effect the producers were looking for was common spaces that looked "beautiful" and had "real impact". The Four Seasons was used for its villas, common areas, paths, swimming pool, and fitness areas, and was the site of all breakfast and lunch scenes. The resort's restaurant was too dark at night for filming dinners, while its reception area was designed to stun arriving guests with the view from the resort's hillside location but was not properly designed for filming scenes of guests checking into a luxury resort. Accordingly, dinner scenes were filmed at a restaurant at the Rosewood Phuket. The cast and crew worked through the night at the Rosewood to shoot all the evening dining scenes and ended their workday with a group breakfast. Reception area scenes were filmed at the Anantara Mai Khao Phuket, along with the spa scenes. The security station, driveway, and jewelry store scenes were filmed at the Anantara Bophut Koh Samui. Frank's wild monologue to Rick was filmed at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok.
The four resorts that appear as the White Lotus differ significantly from their fictional counterpart in that they have no sandbar nearby and are all monkey-free, but the birds and monitor lizard were authentic, since the Anantara Mai Khao is inside a nature preserve.
One of the biggest obstacles the cast and crew encountered was Thailand's tropical heat. Air conditioning was too noisy to be used while cameras were rolling; the cast had to do their best "to look as if they're having a good time", but in fact could "barely function".
As a late addition to the cast, Rockwell filmed his scenes in one week during a break from shooting Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die in South Africa.
The Muay Thai fight scene was filmed at Bangla Boxing Stadium in Phuket.
Post-production
The third season qualified for a $550,000 tax credit from the government of Hawaii, because HBO assigned the post-production work to an eight-person team that worked out of a timeshare unit on Kauai. An improvised editing bay was set up in the unit, which was across the street from White's house on Kauai.
Release The third season premiered on February 16, 2025, on HBO, with the eighth and final episode released on April 6, 2025.
The third season was the first season for which Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts openly promoted its connection to the show (all three seasons were shot at Four Seasons resorts). In the lead-up to the season finale on April 6, 2025, the joint promotion culminated in the temporary transformation of the Four Seasons Westlake Village into a White Lotus resort, a screening of the season finale in the ballroom with many of the cast members, and a panel discussion moderated by Tan France.
Reception Critical response On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 181 critics' reviews are favorable, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads, "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." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 77 out of 100, based on 44 critic reviews.