The White Lotus Season 3: Location, Theme, and Everything You Need to Know

We already know we're going to have to wait a while to see what goes down in Season 3 of The White Lotus, with HBO announcing that it won't return until 2025. But now the rumor is that Mike White's series will start filming in February 2024, with casting beginning the day the strike ended. They really don't waste time at those cursed White Lotus resorts.

Read on to learn everything we currently know about The White Lotus Season 3.

The White Lotus Season 3 latest news

Deadline reported in November 2023 that filming for Season 3 is "tentatively" scheduled to begin in "early February."

Also, for anyone eager to find out which of their favorite actors will be cast this season, Deadline also reported that there are 13 regular roles being cast, ranging in ages "between 18-80s," with "a patriarch, a corporate executive, an actress, a couple of mothers, a misfit and a yogi" among the characters. Sounds like The White Lotus!

The White Lotus Season 3 release date prediction

HBO confirmed that The White Lotus won't return for its third season until 2025. "White Lotus Season 3 probably would have been in play for 2024, [but now] it's 2025," HBO CEO Casey Bloys said during a press event in early November 2023.

Later in the month, Mike White confirmed to EW that he's working on writing Season 3. "I'm seriously finishing scripts," he said. "Still waiting to be able to cast. ... It's going to be a supersized White Lotus. It's going to be longer, bigger, crazier. I don't know what people will think, but I am super excited, so at least for my own barometer, that's a good thing."

The actors and writers strikes affected production on the series, with Deadline reporting after the WGA reached a deal with the AMPTP in September 2023 that The White Lotus is one of three tentpole series HBO is prioritizing, along with Euphoria and The Last of Us, both of which have also had their season premieres pushed to 2025.

Where will The White Lotus Season 3 be set?

The White Lotus Season 3 is headed across the Pacific Ocean to Thailand, according to a report from Variety on March 27. On Oct. 25, Deadline reported that series creator Mike White chose Thailand over Japan after being offered millions of dollars in filming incentives from the Thai government. "The Thai government had just announced a renewal and improvement on their film incentive system. A 30 percent rebate. For their project, that meant $4.4 million alone," said Japanese producer Georgina Pope. "Everyone looked at me with sympathy. At the time in Japan, we had no incentive in place at all. I could not respond with a concrete answer. All I could hear was the sound of a $35 million project flying out the window."

White previously hinted that Season 3 might be set in Asia. Executive producer David Bernad echoed him during a talk at the Berlinale Series Market, saying, "We've tried to work in Asia a lot and hopefully Season 3 will be our chance to make something happen there."

In HBO's after-the-episode featurette accompanying the Season 2 finale, White previewed the potential location and theme of the next season. "The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex," White said, via Variety. "I think the third season would be maybe a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality. It feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus."

Who will be in The White Lotus Season 3?

The first casting announcement is here. According to a report from Variety, Natasha Rothwell, who played Belinda, the spa manager who got strung along by Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) in Season 1, is set to return for Season 3.

Where to watch The White Lotus

The White Lotus Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Max.