- The White Lotus season 3 is set in Thailand
- The third season will feature an all-star cast
- It is expected to land on HBO in February
The White Lotus season 3 is coming to screens.
According to hints from HBO studio executives, the third season of the Mike White-created show will land in February 2025. This news came after they revealed it was delayed due to the Hollywood strikes of the summer of 2023.
Read more: Everything we know about The White Lotus season 3
As the show nears screens, audiences have been wondering which hotel doubled for the fictional White Lotus in the upcoming series.
Here is everything we know about the setting of the hotly anticipated new season.
What hotel was the White Lotus season 3 filmed in?
Series creator White chose to set the show in Thailand after the first and second series were filmed in Hawaii and Sicily, respectively. He landed on the island of Koh Samui. This decision led him to the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui.
The hotel offers views of the mountains and oceans and the possibility of staying in villas that cost $9,000 a night.
What did the hotel management say about the decision?
Jasjit Singh Assist, the general manager, revealed that White was quietly contemplative before he signed the dotted line. However, it was then like “he fell in love” with the place.
He told the South China Morning Post, “He was quiet for a bit. Then he says, ‘All right, this is it.’ It was as if he fell in love with it.”
Are they expecting a tourism boom following The White Lotus 3?
As a whole, the country is gearing up to get a boost to its tourism industry. This is a logical step from ‘The White Lotus Effect’ – something which has been seen in the previous destinations featured within the show.
The hotel also enthused about the HBO show, which is set to star Parker Posey, Carrie Coon and many others, putting the wee island on the map.
“Not everybody knows Koh Samui as a destination. The resort is now going to be on the global stage, and there’s an excitement to that,” the hotel manager added.
When was Thailand revealed as a destination for The White Lotus?
When the latest instalment was announced, questions swirled about where it would be set. Another Asian country was teased by White’s pal Johnny Knoxville when he told Vulture they’d visited the Japanese capital, Tokyo.
White then added that he wanted to explore “Eastern religion and spirituality” after the wrap of the second season.
“The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex, and I think the third season, it would be a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality. And it feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round of White Lotus,” he told HBO.
Any other developments to Thailand’s business industry?
Last month, Thailand’s Prime Minster Paetongtarn Shinawatra sat down with executives in Los Angeles. They then announced rebates for foreign productions.
The plan, which is pending approval from legislators, would increase the max rebate to 30 per cent. Currently, it stands at 20 per cent.
Local production houses welcomed the changes.
“It’s amazing. It puts us literally within the first tier in Asia and very competitive with the rest of the world,” Cod Satrusayang, the head of development at Bangkok’s Indochina Productions, told the same news outlet.
