Yes, yes, we still have a few more weeks to go until this series is over, but we’re already thinking ahead to The White Lotus Season 4. Where’s it going to be? Who will be in it? When will we get to watch? We’ve compiled all the hints that have been dropped along the way…
WHEN?
One of my absolute favourite theories out there on the internet before season three started was that Jennifer Coolidge was actually going to still be in the series, because, this season might be a prequel: i.e. it was going to be set before the last two seasons, therefore allowing her to be alive.
But of course, before the first episode of season three was over, we learned that it was impossible for this theory to be true, but Lordy, I’d love to see a prequel next season that had some of the origin story of Tanya. How amazing would a prequel with Tanya and the Ratcliffe family be – on one of their “normal” vacations to the Caribbean?!
Or, it could be a completely different take. When Belinda is frantically googling Tanya (and Greg/Gary) and reads about her death, one of the search results on her screen talks about a biopic in the works. Could we get a crazy series where they were filming the biopic?! Might we go back to Hawaii and/or Italy for the filming of the biopic, whilst chaos ensues?! It’d be a big departure from previous seasons, but it may be exactly how they’d like to surprise us next. Mike White did say in 2023 about how the show begins and ends: “I don’t think it needs to always be a body. There are so many ways that we want to reinvent the show each year. Like, what is this show – other than people? A fresh mystery, people maybe expect that. But I don’t feel constrained by expectation. It’s fun.”
Our most likely bet is though, that the series will have the same format, with a whole new bunch of characters to unearth and examine, whilst still pulling some threads of unfinished business from the previous seasons.
Whatever the case is, it’s a while off that we’ll actually be getting to see the next season. Although another season has been given the green light, a cast or location announcement has yet to be made, although we know that scouting for that location has begun.
WHERE?
In the past three seasons, the majority – if not all – of the action has taken place at a Four Seasons resort, so that seems a reasonably good bet as to where the next series could take place.
I just scrolled through Four Seasons locations globally and I’d personally love to see the next season in Cairo, Marrakech or Casablanca. Cairo in particular I feel fascinated by – imagine it set against that backdrop, with all that history. Cleopatra?! The Pyramids?! The Afterlife?! There’s so much to mine. Or perhaps the Four Seasons Serengeti?! How good would a safari kind of element be to the White Lotus – who is the king of Serengeti? Who is the prey?
An obvious choice would be The Four Seasons Los Cabos, in Mexico. It has everything: the beaches, the scenery, the heat, the margaritas, the Aztec culture and the throngs of American tourists.
But the most likely location is somewhere in Europe – mainly because HBO executive Francesca Oris said as much. In an interview with Deadline she said they’re well into scouting locations. Back in February she said, “We’re going on some location scouting in the next couple of weeks, so we’ll know soon. I can’t really say where we’re going to land, but chances are somewhere in Europe.”
There’s lots of chat online that it may be Norway – there’s talk that Mike White asked about tax incentives in that country. There’s also lots of people saying that fell through because another country offered better incentives and cash to film there (it really does sound like The White Lotus is becoming the next Olympics, with every major nation putting in their bids?). Regardless of this gossip, there’s also no Four Seasons there, which really seems to be a constant in this series?
European Four Seasons that could be incredible are: The French Riveria (or would this be too similar to Sicily??), Athens (this would SO work – all that Greek mythology? Trips to the islands?!?), Lisbon (beautiful Portugal – but again, I feel like we’ve seen a similar vibe already in Sicily), Geneva (imagine a complete change of place and it being in snowy Switzerland?! Alas, this has already been shut down though by another White Lotus executive producer – this time David Bernard who said the show will likely never be set in cold weather. “Mike does not like the cold, that is why we will never do it,” he said recently. “I feel confident we will never do a season in the cold… Mike White is not for it. He is a California guy. He is not built for the cold.”) or perhaps a change of pace and the team opting for Budapest, Prague or Istanbul.
WHO?!
We’re yet to know his fate in season three, but so far, there has only been one character to appear in all three series: Greg/Gary. Could he survive to do a fourth?!
Or, could the fact that Belinda was in season 3 but not season 2, mean we could be looking at another season 2 character with unfinished business.
Could that someone be Dominic De Grasso (Michael Imperioli – yip, the guy from The Sopranos)? Dominic was the dad in the inter-generational De Grasso family sandwich, who in one episode was getting berated by his wife on the phone, as their marriage was in complete tatters. That voice was also none other than Laura Dern. Although we never saw her face, it turns out, she’s a buddy of Mike’s so happily said yes to playing the little part. How good would Laura Dern be on this show?
Plus, when season two wrapped up, Mike White hinted that Dominic’s story perhaps wasn’t over. He said: “Who knows, maybe there’ll be another White Lotus season where Dominic comes with his wife and they patch it all up! I don’t want to think about it too much, because the idea of that makes me so happy. I don’t want to be disappointed… I would want nothing more than that. I just loved working with Mike so much.” That sounds like he’d be pretty keen to see it come together.
Or perhaps we’ll see another Season One cast member returning. Perhaps the wonderful Connie Britton (she played Nicole Mossbacher who had a high-powered job at Goop). Can’t you just see Nicole running a Goop-style corporate wellness retreat (we’re already wincing at the thought).
Before Season Two started, she revealed that the idea of Nicole returning was already being toyed with. “[Mike White] wanted me to be in the second season, and there was an idea that I loved for the character. A piece of casting didn’t work in the second season. I would love to see a spin-off on every character in that show.”
As for new people joining the show, we know Laura Dern and Mike White are pals, so maybe one of Laura’s besties, Nicole Kidman might join. She has definitely expressed her interest, recently saying she’s a “massive fan” of both The White Lotus and its creator Mike White, noting that she “would do anything he writes, because I just think he’s phenomenal”.
Or, there’s already a lot of talk that Mike White is a big Christopher Guest fan – he’s the man behind movies like Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration. He always goes back to the same group of actors – which includes Jennifer Coolidge and Parker Posey. Could someone from that group be next on The White Lotus? Perhaps Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara or Bob Balaban? Or, might it even be Christopher Guest’s long-time wife, Jamie Lee Curtis?
Ooooooor, are we going to get someone from this latest season. Maybe Pam will get to do the next White Lotus employee exchange?!
If you’ve got any theories, drop us a line at hello@capsulenz.com!
