The White Lotus’ Mike White has some early ideas for a third season
The White Lotus writer/director Mike White suggests Jennifer Coolidge will be a mainstay of the anthology series' future
The rest of us haven’t even seen the new The White Lotus yet, but the series’ mastermind, Mike White, already has a few thoughts for the future. On the red carpet premiere for the second season (which arrives for the rest of the world on October 30, 2022), White revealed some of his thoughts about what could come next for the juggernaut HBO anthology series.
“Right now I’m tired. We just turned in our last episode to the network yesterday. I feel like I just finished, so it’s hard to think about the next race,” he told Deadline. “But if we did, I think it’d be fun to maybe go to a whole different continent. You know, we did Europe, and maybe Asia, something crazy like that, that would be fun.”
It’s no surprise that White, a two-time competitor on The Amazing Race, would think about completing a season in terms of, well, a race. (Nor that he would be thinking in terms of beautiful and exotic locales.) The writer has frequently referenced his reality competition days in regard to The White Lotus experience, as when he accepted his second Emmy for the show: “I was on Survivor. And on Survivor, the way you stay in the game is to lower your threat level,” he said. “Now, I feel like I’ve raised my threat level. I just want to stay in the game. Awards are great. I love writing; I love doing what I do. Don’t come for me. Don’t vote me off the island!”
One person who is almost definitely remaining on the island (or whatever destination he lands on) is fellow Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge. “Jennifer is my friend and everybody loved her in the first season… and I was like, ‘I can’t go to Italy without Jennifer,’” he shared. “And maybe that’s still the case. Like, maybe you can’t go to Japan without Jennifer, either.”
But don’t rule out the other White Lotus ensemble members (new members of which include Aubrey Plaza, Michael Imperioli, Theo James, and Haley Lu Richardson). “There are so many fun actors we’ve worked with so far, so it’s just kind of like who’s available, and who will do it,” White added. “I think it’s fun to bring somebody back from some season.”