Warning: spoilers for season three of The White Lotus ahead.
Season three of The White Lotus packed a lot of questionable things into its eight-episode run: an incestuous threesome, intrusive murder-suicide fantasies, and endless brand collabs, to name a few. After ending on a shocking note, with toxic but lovable couple Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and Rick (Walton Goggins) meeting a tragic end, the series’ Thailand-set third season set a high bar for chaos and mystic symbolism. Creator Mike White is surely up to the task, though—and naturally, the Emmy-winning HBO hit has already been renewed for a season four. Here’s everything we know about it so far:
Where will The White Lotus season four be set?
Deadline broke the news in September that season four will be set in France. Specifically, the story will take place along the French Riviera, with some scenes shot at a Paris hotel, with a focus on the Cannes Film Festival (more on that below).
While past seasons took place at various Four Seasons properties, this time will break form. Variety reports that most shooting will take place at a stunning 19th-century palace-turned-luxury hotel in Saint-Tropez on the Côte d’Azur, called the Château de La Messardière, and at Hôtel Martinez in Cannes.
As for the Paris scenes—no other hotels have been locked in for filming yet, but Variety reports that production has scouted the chic Le Lutetia on the Left Bank of the Seine in the Saint-Germain des Prés neighborhood (where artists including Charlie Chaplin, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and Josephine Baker all stayed), and the five-star Ritz Paris, which opened in 1898 and was visited by a similarly iconic crew of historic figures, including Coco Chanel and Marcel Proust.
Given its close, confined quarters at a single hotel property, The White Lotus filming experience has been described by many former cast members as a cross between a sleepaway camp and a reality TV set. It’ll be interesting to see how the new setting affects this installment’s outcome.
Who is in the cast?
A few guests have already been confirmed for season four: Laura Dern, Sandra Bernhard, Ari Graynor, and British actor and comedian Steve Coogan (of Alan Partridge fame) are all joining the series. This is in addition to models/newcomers Caleb Jonte Edwards, Dylan Ennis, and Marissa Long, Canadian actor and country musician Alexander Ludwig (he played Cato in The Hunger Games), Chris Messina (Argo and The Mindy Project), and Amanda “AJ” Michalka (of cult favorite aughts pop duo Aly & AJ). Max Greenfield (The Neighborhood), Kumail Nanjiani (Only Murders In the Building), Chloe Bennet (Interior Chinatown), Charlie Hall (The Sex Lives of College Girls), and Jarrad Paul (Free Bert) have also joined the cast.
On March 30, additional actors were added to the sprawling ensemble, including Heather Graham, Rosie Perez, Ben Schnetzer, Tobias Santelmann, Frida Gustavsson, and Laura Smet.
What happened to Helena Bonham Carter?
Some other casting gossip: a little over a week into production, it was reported that Helena Bonham Carter would be exiting the season, with her role recast. An HBO spokesperson gave the following statement to Deadline: “With filming just underway on Season 4 of The White Lotus, it had become apparent that the character which Mike White created for Helena Bonham Carter did not align once on set. The role has subsequently been rethought, is being rewritten and will be recast in the coming weeks. HBO, the producers and Mike White are saddened that they won’t get to work with her, but remain ardent fans and very much hope to work with the legendary actress on another project soon.”
Laura Dern will be replacing her. Which makes both perfect sense, but also leads to some questions.
Dern is one of White’s most frequent collaborator. The pair previously worked together on the cult classic HBO show Enlightened. She also played a supporting role in White’s 2007 film Year of the Dog. Technically, she’s also contributed to TWL before. She made a vocal cameo as Michael Imperioli’s character’s estranged wife in the second season.
According to Deadline, Dern will not be playing either the character originally meant for Carter’s but rather one that “is being developed and written for her by White.” For now, the assumption would be that it is not the same character she had voiced in the second season.
Are any former cast members returning?
Though each season of the anthology series features a new group of nepo babies, beloved character actors, and other casting wild cards, White has also always brought back at least one character to tie the seasons together. In season two, it was Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) and Greg (Jon Gries), who gallivanted around Italy on a moped before Greg set Tanya up to be killed in a murder-by-gays plot. In season three, we were reintroduced to Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), who finally got hers after being ghosted by Tanya—though in a characteristically cynical White-twist, she turned around and did the same thing to someone else (Pornchai).
So who could be coming back next season? Wood confirmed to W that, despite some fan theories, there’s no chance of Chelsea or Rick returning. Maybe we’ll circle back to Belinda and Pornchai—will White want plot symmetry between seasons, with Pornchai somehow getting justice this time?
The other most apparent loose end is with the Ratliff family. After the slow, season-long build-up toward Timothy (Jason Isaacs) revealing to his family that he had lost all of their money, it was disappointing to be denied that climactic moment as a viewer. He was also apparently facing time in federal prison. Will there be Zoom calls with Isaacs from his cushy minimum security institution next season? Will we see Parker Posey’s Victoria working at a hotel, rather than visiting one as a guest? Will Patrick Schwarzenegger’s Saxon go on his own spiritual journey, inspired by the death of Chelsea? The possibilities are endless.
What will the season’s themes be about?
Last season focused on issues of life, death, rebirth, and Eastern philosophy. According to executive producer David Bernad, season four will be about “the life of an artist.”
“Early on, Mike talked about wanting to do Season 4 as the life of an artist—the loneliness and the pain,” Bernad recently said at the annual Canneseries. He added: “That’s a throughline that runs throughout the season. As we located the show at the Cannes Film festival, this idea of fame popped up and who has the world’s attention? Who can grab it and who is the plus one in a relationship? What are the things that satisfy us? Is it the love of an intimate partner, the love of strangers, what do we prioritize in people?”
He went on: “It really examines the things we value as people and what is attractive to us, and how fame can be corrosive and dictate your choices in life. Some of the characters are existentially reflecting on those choices, some are reflecting on the choices and sacrifices they made as artists, and some are just starting to enter into this world of fame.”
Sounds like it will be very meta.
When will The White Lotus season 4 return?
There’s no release date yet—stay tuned for updates. Filming began in April and will last through October, with a possible premiere in May 2027, if past release schedules are any hint.