Once again, there’s trouble on the horizon for the White Lotus resorts. The first teaser trailer for the acclaimed HBO show’s third season suggests as much intrigue, secrets and incendiary social critique as the first two – this time, on the beaches of Thailand.
The 90-second trailer substantiates creator Mike White’s suggestion that the Emmy-winning series, which satirized wealth privilege at a Hawaiian resort in season one before moving to bedroom farce in Sicily for season two, would tackle westerners’ interest in eastern spirituality in its third outing.
The teaser sees stars Jason Isaacs, Walton Goggins, Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Michelle Monaghan, Patrick Schwarzenegger and others partaking in both partying and “stress-management meditations” at what is assumedly another White Lotus resort in Thailand. “Everyone runs from pain towards pleasure,” says a Buddhist monk in the trailer. “But they get there only to find more pain.”
Natasha Rothwell, a fan favorite from the first season, returns as the unlucky, striving masseuse Belinda, in Thailand on an exchange program – “I’m starting to feel like something good is going to come out of this,” she says. There is also a shot of a body bag – suggesting that, as in the first two seasons, someone does not return from the luxury hotel alive.
White had previously teased the show’s third season, which he also wrote and directed, as a potential exploration of death and fascination with eastern spirituality, possibly aligning with Belinda’s interest in wellness. “The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” he said in an HBO clip for the season two finale. “I think the third season would be maybe a satirical and funny look at death and eastern religion and spirituality.”
HBO partnered with the Tourism Authority of Thailand to support production and promotion of the third season, which filmed this past spring at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, as well as locations in Phuket and Bangkok. Lalisa Manobal, the rapper known mononymously as Lisa and the only Thai member of the K-pop group Blackpink, makes her acting debut as a White Lotus staff member – and, at least as suggested by the trailer, resort dancer – in the third season.
The White Lotus has been a critical success and awards juggernaut since it debuted as a limited series in 2021. The first season garnered 20 Emmy nominations and 10 wins, including best limited series. The second, which aired in 2022, earned 23 nominations and won five, including one for best casting and best dramatic actress for fan favorite Jennifer Coolidge, the only cast holdover between the two seasons.
The third season will premiere on HBO on 16 February.
