The White Lotus season 3’s location was revealed a long while ago, after speculation had been going around as Japan, The Maldives, or a high end ski resort in Europe, that Thailand would be where the latest season’s story will take place. Filming will be done in Bangkok, Phuket, but the bulk majority of the story will take place in Koh Samui. And like the previous seasons, The Four Seasons will be the hotel standing in for the iconic White Lotus resort.
This is great news for Koh Samui’s tourism as the show will undoubtedly showcase the island’s beautiful spots where the characters will visit. Outside of the resort, we can only guess at the moment with places will be shown but we’d put our money on either Fisherman’s village or the nightlife bars and clubs of Chaweng road making an appearance.
“We are honored to have Amazing Thailand featured as the filming location for the highly anticipated upcoming season of The White Lotus,” Thapanee Kiatphaibool, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), said in a release. “The kingdom’s exotic natural beauty, rich historical sites and diverse landscapes are the perfect settings to share our fascinating culture, fantastic cuisine, top-notch wellness and luxury offerings, and most importantly our people and Thai hospitality. Thailand has long been considered one of the world’s favorite filming locations. The White Lotus project will certainly strengthen the kingdom’s status as a preferred filming destination and a beacon of experience-based tourism, inspiring even more visitors to Amazing Thailand.”
As for the cast, we see on HBO’s instagram post that K-Pop superstar Lisa from Blackpink will be playing the resort’s welcome staff as her first ever acting role. Lisa, who was actually born in Thailand, said she was excited “to be back home, to have Thai food every day” while filming the show. “I’m excited for my fans to see it,” she continued. “I feel like people are going to fall in love with Thailand even more.”
Jennifer Coolidge will not be reprising her role as Tanya, after what happened to her character in the last season. But we will see a familiar face from season 1 as Natasha Rothwell who played Belinda the spa manager from White Lotus Hawaii will be in this season, travelling from the US all the way to Thailand.
Previous seasons saw famous names such as Sydney Sweeney, Aubrey Plaza, Connie Britton, F. Murray Abraham, Steve Zahn, Tom Hollander, Theo James and Will Sharpe playing memorable characters. And this season will also not disappoint when it comes to names. Other cast members include Jason Isaacs, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Scott Glenn, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, just to name a few.
The show creator Mike White has been heavily under wraps on giving any goss for the upcoming season, but he has promised 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 … I’m super excited about the content of the season,” White confirmed excitedly.
Lucky for us White has given a few crumbs to tide us over in the form of a teaser trailer. I’m not going to lie, it doesn’t really give much away but it’s sure to be a juicy season with the trailer ending on the phrase, “what happens in Thailand, stays in Thailand.”
Michelle Monaghan, meanwhile, posted on her Instagram her whereabouts during filming the series and we fully recognised Amanpuri Phuket as the backdrop. Whether this is another filming location or was she just vacationing there remains to be seen.
The White Lotus season 3 is expected to be released on HBO Max in mid 2025.
