Mike White has big plans for his HBO satire series, “The White Lotus,” including future seasons set in a slew of locations around the globe, one of which being Australia.
“My dream would be to hit every continent,” White said at a recent press conference during Sydney’s Vivid Festival. “We kind of have to come to Australia if we keep going.”
“It would be so fun,” he continued. “Obviously, there’s a huge wealth of talent here and the beauty is inarguable, so it feels like it checks all the boxes.”
White was joined at the conference by Jennifer Coolidge, whose star power from the first installment of “The White Lotus” carried over to Season 2 as Tanya McQuoid. Coolidge was also excited by the idea of the series traveling down under, saying, “Australia gets my vote,” while White added, “we could bring Murray Bartlett back,” referring to the Australian actor who played Armond the resort manager in Season 1.
After the series’ first and second seasons traveled to Hawaii and Sicily, respectively, the HBO series has been reported to take place in Thailand for its third installment, aligning with White’s previously stated vision to center Eastern themes of religion and spirituality.
“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,” White said in the HBO featurette following the Season 2 finale.
Although Coolidge’s character hit the end of the road following the events that transpired in the Season 2 finale, White also discussed the possibility of a prequel series centering on Tanya.
“I absolutely think that’s possible — we were just talking about that,” White said. “It’s a funny idea, and making Jennifer 20 years younger, that would be fun too. I think Jennifer’s like, ‘Sure, let’s do it.’”
