Mike White's The White Lotus was one of the best and most talked-about series of 2021. Focusing on a group of wealthy tourists at a Hawaii resort, the limited series investigated social disparity in a paradise setting with a lot of humor. While we didn't exactly fall in love with its narcissistic and morally dubious characters, we certainly loved to hate them and watch their hilarious and uncomfortable conflicts.
For those of us who loved the series, there's good news. HBO announced recently that season two is officially happening and preproduction is underway. Here's everything we know about The White Lotus Season 2 so far and why you cannot miss the new season:
The White Lotus Season 2 Release Date
The White Lotus season 2 is still in the middle of casting, which likely means that we will have to wait a bit until new episodes are released. There is no official date for the second season yet, but considering that they filmed Season one in late 2020 and released it in the summer of 2021, it is most likely that we'll have to wait until late 2022 or early 2023.
What Will Be The White Lotus Season 2 Be About?
Fans of the show might be surprised to hear that it is even getting a second season. The White Lotus was originally billed as a limited series, which means the plot in season one was concluded in its shocking finale. But, much like American Horror Story, The White Lotus will become an anthology series with a whole new plot, location, and cast every season. Each season will likely focus on the lives of different wealthy vacationers and the tourism workers whose efforts allow them to relax and enjoy the scenery.
Mike White, the creator of the show and Survivor alum, told Vulture that he plans to continue creating unlikeable characters and hateable people, which is not surprising if you have seen his other shows like Enlightened. He said, "I feel like I could create characters that fit some people’s political and cultural agenda and probably my own! That would be pandering."
Though HBO executive Francesca Orsi confirmed that the second season will be heading to a new location, we don't know specifically where. Since the title of the show refers to a chain of hotels, it is easy to see how the series could travel the world's different "White Lotuses." Mike White told TVLine that “it would have to be a different hotel, like, say, The White Lotus: San Tropez or something," and in other interviews he has hinted at locations like France or Japan.
Casting The White Lotus
The first series featured an amazing ensemble cast that masterfully set the tone for the comedy series with stars like Connie Britton, Molly Shannon, Jennifer Coolidge, Steve Zahn, Alexandra Daddario, and Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney. Since the new season will focus on a new resort, it will feature a whole new cast (except for Jennifer Coolidge), so there are a lot of reasons to be excited about the new cast of the upcoming season.
According to EW, Michael Imperioli of The Sopranos fame will be playing a character named Dominic Di Grasso, who is traveling with "his elderly father and recent college-graduate son." In January 2022, HBO confirmed that Aubrey Plaza will be joining the cast as Harper Spiller, a woman who finds herself on vacation with her husband and his friends. MovieWeb reported that other confirmed cast members include the great F. Murray Abraham (Mythic Quest), Tom Hollander (The Night Manager), Adam DiMarco (The Order), and Haley Lu Richardson (The Edge of Seventeen). F. Murray Abraham will play Imperioli's dad and DiMarco will play his son. Hollander will play Quentin, an English expatriate vacationing with his friends and his nephew. Richardson stars as Portia, a young woman traveling with her boss.
As mentioned, there is a small chance that some of our favorite actors will make a return, including Coolidge possibly reprising her instantly iconic role as Tanya. Coolidge was especially praised for her work, and Deadline reported back in October 2021 that she is set to return, though this doesn't seem to be officially confirmed. White has suggested as much, though, telling IndieWire, "I don’t think you can credibly have [all the season one guests] on the same vacation again. But maybe it could be a Marvel universe type thing, where some of them would come back."
Why You Shouldn't Miss Season 2 of The White Lotus
The White Lotus was simply one of the best TV series of 2021. It is an incisive and hilarious depiction of income inequality in America that does not feel didactic or moralistic. Instead of showing us the world as we'd like it to be, this show depicts the world of luxury as it is: filled with selfish people who will always end up winning in a world of profit and capitalism. It slowly but surely reveals the underlying dynamics of disparity that inform human relationships. Mike White is not afraid to show the flaws and quirks of both upper and working-class characters while retaining a light tone that turns this show into a great comedy of manners.
Overall, the show becomes a brilliant document of its times as it bravely comments on topical subjects while keeping its eye on the more fundamental issue of class conflict. Considering that Mike White has had a hand in writing some classics like School of Rock, Freaks and Geeks, and Enlightened, the new season of The White Lotus looks rather promising.
Naomi Fry of the New Yorker described the show as a "near-note-perfect tragicomedy" and as "an examination of what happens when the veneer of conventional sociability dissolves and the power struggles stoked by race, class, and gender erupt from beneath the surface of everyday life."
While the music, direction, and editing build a rhythmic tension which is quite unlike any other comedy on television, The White Lotus would not have been such a success without the masterful performances of its ensemble cast. Jennifer Coolidge, in particular, was praised for delivering one of her best performances ever as Tanya, a lonely alcoholic who carries around her dead mother’s ashes. She blends vulnerability with selfishness in a way that makes viewers somehow both empathize with and condemn her actions, a response which White perfects throughout the show's entirety with several characters. Similarly, Connie Briton and Sydney Sweeney excelled as Nicole and Olivia Mossbacher, perfectly portraying the complexities of mother-daughter relationships and the intergenerational differences between boomers and millennials/zoomers.
Mike White can assuredly bring out the best of whatever cast he assembles, though, and we're confident that Plaza, Imperioli, Abraham, possibly Coolidge and others will make for another season of biting and hilarious social commentary, and we could not be more excited.