LOS ANGELES, USA – Many Asian countries, including the Philippines, would have offered the moon and the stars, and the most enticing tax incentives to have Season 3 of HBO’s The White Lotus filmed in their respective territories.
For a time, there was buzz that the popular series was considering shooting its new season in the Philippines after its Emmy and Golden Globe-winning seasons lensed in Hawaii and Sicily. But it turned out those were all just rumors when writer-director Mike White’s production announced in 2023 that it would bring its new cast to Thailand.
Now, Season 3 premieres with eight episodes set mostly on the lush island of Ko Samui. This time, Mike, in this Asian setting, taps the symbolisms in monkeys and Buddhist temples in the eternal clash between our primal and spiritual urges.
The good news is that several Thai actors get prominent exposure in the new season — veteran actress Lek Patravadi as Sritala, the co-owner of the luxurious resort where the protagonists check in; Tayme Thapthimthong as Gaitok, a security guard at the resort; and Dom Hetrakul as Pornchai, the resort’s spa therapist.
Lisa Manobal (credited in the show as Lalisa), a member of the South Korean supergroup BLACKPINK who has Thai roots, makes her acting debut as Mook, a health mentor and a dancer at the resort.
The Westerners who descend on this posh island resort (shot in Four Seasons Resort Ko Samui) and trigger all sorts of complications include a rich family, the Raitliffs (Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Sam Nivola); and a trio of besties since childhood (Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, and Carrie Coon).
Natasha Rothwell is back as Belinda, Season 1’s only returning character, as an exchange employee in Thailand, to learn more about the resort’s wellness program. And there’s a seemingly mismatched couple, Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood, as Rick and Chelsea, respectively.
The new season benefits from the refreshing appeal of its two young Thai actors, Lisa and Tayme, who portray a couple at the beginning of their romance.
“Gaitok and Mook are childhood friends. They both grew up on the island. Gaitok himself has never left the island. He’s very local,” Tayme, who was born and raised in London, said in a recent press conference.
“He’s always had a little crush on Mook. He is nervous like, should I tell her or not because we’ve been such good friends for such a long time?”
Lisa, whose radiant smile lights up the screen as well as in person, said of her character Mook’s reaction to Gaitok’s admission of his romantic interest, “She was shocked a bit when Gaitok said that. She’s more like just being good friends.”
“So she didn’t really think of him in that way. But when he told her that, she just was like, let’s go on a date first, and let’s see how it goes.”
On making her acting debut in her homeland, Lisa said it was a good way to reconnect to her roots.
“I’m just so happy that I can be a part of this season. I’m representing a Thai girl who works on the island. I’m really grateful that I can do this,” shared Lisa.
“I just feel more like reconnecting to Thailand because I left when I was 14 to go to South Korea. After 14, I didn’t have a chance to spend this amount of time in Thailand. It was really nice to spend six to seven months in Thailand and with my family there.”
The K-pop star, who turns 28 in March, shared that she enjoyed her first acting foray.
“There’s a lot of fun things. I remember my first shoot. I was so nervous. I didn’t know what to do. I have to act in English. It’s not my first language at all,” she said.
“But I really had fun doing this. And yeah, in the future, I want to do this (acting) more.”
Tayme said he is thankful to Lisa for helping him with his lines.
“Coming over from England 12 years prior to getting cast on this show, I got to soak up a lot of Thai culture in that time. But to actually play a local and make the dialogue convincing, I had to work on that quite a bit,” he said.
“Also, when I spoke English, I had to make it how a local Thai would speak English. Lisa helped me out with that because when they gave me the script, they said, you don’t have to follow the script exactly. Just do it how you would normally speak.”
“Lisa helped out with that. She helped rephrase a lot of sentences for me. So it would sound more natural.”
For writer-director Mike, exploring new themes for the third season became part of the process.
“It felt like we had to try to focus on something new. The idea was, that it would be cool to do something about religion, God, and spirituality. And then, going to Thailand, it’s a Buddhist country,” he said.
“I had my self-help Buddhist years. I’m still having them,” said Mike, sharing he suffered from a nervous breakdown in 2004.
“So there’s a lot of Buddhist concepts that I thought would be interesting to explore. And give the show new places to go with different kinds of stories.”
Mike, whose acting credits include playing Ned Schneebly in Jack Black’s School of Rock, also disclosed why Thailand became the logical next location.
“Thailand seemed like the perfect backdrop for that because it is Buddhist and there’s something about the culture there, too, and having some Westerners come, and chaos,” he said.
“Something that keeps coming up in the show, and in this one, it definitely is made more explicit. People want to be their ideal self and be more than the base kind of animal creatures that they can be.”
“Then there’s this antic force that keeps pulling them back out to monkey land,” said Mike, who’s still boyish looking at 54.
Mike felt that Thailand is a “great canvas” for The White Lotus’ contrasting themes.
“Thailand is obviously a very complex country with so much going on. But it really does have all the temples and this spiritual dimension,” he said.
“Then it is also known for Bangkok and the wild nights. It felt like that would be a great canvas to explore those themes because people either go there for one or the other or a mixture of both. So we wanted to do that in a way that felt honest, hopefully authentic in some way, but capture what the vibe really is.”
“It was harder because the show’s longer,” Mike said about the eight episodes, one longer than the previous season. “There are more characters. Thailand was a beautiful place to shoot but it had a lot of challenges. The writers’ strike (in Hollywood) was in the middle of it.”
The White Lotus can also take pride in its equal opportunity nudity — Patrick, Sam, and Jason do their share of scenes appearing au naturelle.
Patrick, the son of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver (making him the nephew of the late former US president John F. Kennedy), quipped about his family watching him in these scenes: “They don’t know anything.”
Jason joked, “Well, they saw him from when he was born. I think they’ve seen everything.”
Patrick, who resembles his dad when the latter was in his teens, said Episode 1 is “pretty safe.”
“We actually did film some other things in Episode 1 that didn’t make the end cut. But there are some uncomfortable conversations between us in the bed that are a little weird to show in front of your family,” he shared.
“But Episodes 5 and 6, there will be some times that I will take some bathroom breaks when the family…or maybe I won’t watch that episode with them. I don’t know. We’ll see. But they’re super excited.”
Both Patrick and Sam — also the son of actors Alessandro Nivola and Emily Mortimer — admitted that they asked their respective parents for advice on doing these sensitive scenes.
Patrick shared, “Just for that specific scene, we both asked our parents. But no, I didn’t actually talk to my family at all about my character.”
Jason, ever witty, feigned ignorance about baring his private parts. “I’m horrified that you asked that question because I didn’t know I was naked in the thing,” he quipped, teasing further that he insists on nudity in every show.
But on top of the sexy scenes, The White Lotus also gets a lot of buzz for its series locations.
“One of the things I learned when I was there, which was really powerful, was that Thailand has never been colonized,” shared Natasha, who visited Thailand for the first time.
“And to be shooting and working in a country that isn’t constantly trying to heal from historical trauma, you feel that lightness, acceptance, and peace. So it was really wonderful to be there, to experience a place like that.”
Parker, who plays Victoria, a tranquilizer-popping mom and wife who appears to be often out of it, also rhapsodized about being in Thailand.
“Thailand is such a hospitable, gracious, simple, pure, spiritual kingdom,” she said. “There’s so much to take in: the beauty of Thailand. I’ve never been to Asia, so it was so exotic.”
When the cast was asked to describe this Season 3 in a few words, they came up with amusing answers.
Parker: “Exotic. Chaotic. Transformative.”
Sam: “We said super fucking dope the other day.”
Sarah: “I like vibrant. Opulent. And I like sneaky. I feel like people (the characters) are being very sneaky in this season.”
Michelle: “Haunting.”
Carrie: “Drunk ass chaos.”
Leslie: “It’s literally hot. But also, the relationships are hot, complicated, and sexy. It just feels like you’re on the pulse of something.”
Carrie: “Hot ass chaos.”
Leslie: “No, it’s hot ass haunting chaos.”
Walton: “Transcendent, chaotic. A personal reckoning.”
Aimee: “A lot of it for me is about fate versus free will, like how much is destined and how much choice and agency do we have? Because I feel like some people have the fatal flaw, the pride. And is that destined, that downfall, or did we have a choice?”
Lisa: “Crazy.”
Tayme: “This is such a good mix of some sweet bits, some spicy bits, and obviously, it’s chaotic.”
But trust Jason to come up with something catchy: “Sex, drugs, and tofu.” – Rappler.com