Where will cast members Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Jason Isaacs and New Zealand’s own Morgana O’Reilly spend their - no doubt, doomed - vacation?
Earlier this year, it was reported that the new cast of characters will check in to the Four Seasons Koh Samui, a five-star beach resort in Thailand. Now, a brief teaser trailer has given fans of the show a glimpse at the setting - a boat speeding off into the sunset, a hotel pool, a character uttering the words: “What happens in Thailand, stays in Thailand”.
The first season was set at the Four Seasons Resort Maui in Hawaii, while the second took place at San Domenico Palace in Taormina, Sicily.
During the brief teaser, captioned “New luxuries await you in Thailand” on social media, Parker, Isaacs and returning fan favourite Natasha Rothwell as Belinda Lindsey can all be seen.
Thanks to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the show likely won’t appear on screens until 2025, according to HBO and Max CEO Casey Bloys. Filming began in February this year.
In January, the hit show’s director Mike White announced that five new cast members were joining the show, including O’Reilly, Milos Bikovic, Christian Friedel, Lek Patravadi and Shalini Peiris.
The cast also includes Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibbs, Tayme Thapthimthong, Aimee Lou Wood, Arnas Fedaravicius, Dom Hetrakul, Carrie Coon, Nicholas Duvernay, Sam Nivola, Francesca Corney, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Lisa of Blackpink fame.
O’Reilly has Housebound, Wentworth and the Emmy-winning show Mean Mums to her name, as well as Australian soap Neighbours. Speaking to The Listener about her role in The White Lotus in April this year, she revealed that she was feeling “the weight of the nation behind me... the excitement of a nation behind me!”
Kiwi actress Morgana O'Reilly will appear in season 3 of The White Lotus. Photo / Dean O'Gorman
She said of the moment she was told the role was hers, “I just got to be fizzy and excited in the kind of way that you dream about when you first start out.”
Each season of The White Lotus so far has explored particular themes - season 1 was all about money, season 2 about sex. The third season, White has promised, will be “a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality”.
As for any more specific plot details, they’re yet to be revealed - though White has teased that season 3 will be “longer, bigger, crazier” than seasons 1 and 2.
