But it appears there was a clear sartorial clue that pointed to McQuoid eventually being revealed as the body found floating in the waters in front of the resort in the very first episode.
Alerted by American writer Evan Ross Katz on Twitter, McQuiod’s finale dress bears a striking resemblance to another doomed character from The Godfather - the scene of which appears in The White Lotus.
In episode three, a Godfather sightseeing tour taken by Lotus characters Bert, Dominic and Albie features.
The tour recreates the moment from the Italian masterpiece when Michael Corleone’s wife Apollonia is killed with a car bomb intended for her husband. It uses a mannequin - sporting an undeniably similar dress to the one McQuoid wears throughout her last ever episode - who meets a fake fiery death in a homage to the scenes shot for the film in Sicily.
The clue was the work of The White Lotus’ costume designer Alex Bovaird who told Page Six Style they were impressed fans were able to put the two together.
“I was pretty surprised by the internet sleuths’ ability to put things together,” Bovaird said.
“When I saw the Evan Ross Katz tweet showing Tanya’s death dress on the Godfather dummy, I was very impressed.”
Bovaird also revealed the dress connection “almost didn’t happen,” because the dress intended for Coolidge’s character was sent off set accidentally.
“We were towards the end of the show, and it got sent back to Rome the previous night by mistake. Somebody had to catch a plane with it back in the early morning and it made it to camera,” she said.
“Just your typical costume department mayhem.”
The White Lotus has been confirmed as returning for a third season and, according to The Telegraph, attracts around 9.5 million viewers per episode, a 60 per cent increase on the viewership in season one.
