From why only one star returned for the second season to the real deal about those
trippy opening credits, the truth about The White Lotus will leave you surprised.
The first season of The White Lotus
was not only a darkly comedic social satire targeting the super-wealthy,
but it was also something of a "whodunit." In the series' opening scene,
a coffin is seen being loaded onto an airplane, thus drawing viewers into
the season-long mystery of who was in the coffin and how that person came to be there.
Film and television writer-producer Mike White is no Hollywood neophyte. In addition to writing the
screenplays for such films as The School of Rock and Pitch Perfect 3, he also created the acclaimed
TV series Enlightened, starring Laura Dern. However, as White admitted in an interview with
NPR's Fresh Air, the success of The White Lotus was far beyond anything he'd experienced before:
White credited the show's mass appeal to that dead body, telling NPR:
A scene in the premiere
episode of the second season of The White Lotus features American tourist Daphne chatting with
two women on the beach. Fans of Survivor who watched that scene were quick to identify the
women as Kara Kay and Angelina Keeley, who competed in the 37th season of the venerable
reality competition. Those cameos weren't random, given that Mike White is not only a Survivor fan,
but he also competed in the David vs. Goliath season in 2018 alongside Kay and Keeley.
"Diary of a mad freaking castaway."
Speaking of how his reality show experience influenced The White Lotus, White told Variety:
"Natalie, is there any way I could have your jacket."
"Natalie?"
Prior to the announcement that The White Lotus would be returning for a second season,
series creator Mike White teased his potential plans in an interview with IndieWire,
confirming that a second season would feature new actors in a new locale. He noted at the time:
As it turned out, the key actor to return for the second season was Jennifer Coolidge, reprising her
Emmy-winning role as socialite Tanya McQuoid. Coolidge told TVLine of the second season:
According to Coolidge, whose roster of iconic screen characters includes Paulette in Legally
Blonde and Stifler's mom in the American Pie films, the narcissistic, navel-gazing
Tanya could have easily become a caricature. Coolidge shared in an interview with Forbes:
Sharp-eyed viewers of The White Lotus have noticed various "Easter eggs" concealed in
the second season, and that's definitely not by chance. Vanity Fair compiled a lengthy list,
and some of them are quite intriguing. One, in particular, is the starfish pin that White
Lotus Sicily manager Valentina gifts to her employee Isabella, with whom she is clearly
infatuated with. The starfish, it turns out, symbolizes "infinite divine love."
Then there's the scene in which Harper reluctantly accompanies Daphne to the quaint village of Noto,
where Harper is seemingly swarmed by a number of predatory, amorous men. That scene, series creator
Mike White told Variety, was actually an homage to Michelangelo Antonioni's 1960 movie L'Avventura,
recreating a similar scene filmed in the exact same location, on the steps of the Noto Cathedral.
The opening credits of The White
Lotus Season 2 are inspired by Italian frescoes, and those who watch closely
will notice some weird stuff going on. In fact, as noted by Artnet News, the title sequence was
created by Katrina Crawford and Mark Bashore of design studio Plains of Yonder, who also
developed the vintage wallpaper-inspired credits for the first season. Crawford told the outlet:
As sharp-eyed viewers have certainly noticed, each time the name of one of the actors appears,
it's accompanied by an image that relates to that actor's character. For example,
Jennifer Coolidge's name was accompanied by a monkey in the credits for both seasons. In
Season 2, however, the monkey has a collar around its neck,
attached to a chain held by a blonde woman in a castle tower — perhaps symbolizing the
relationship between Coolidge and her beleaguered assistant, Portia.
"This job is a joke."
In any case, there's a definite sexual vibe woven
throughout the 90-second sequence. Bashore explained to Fast Company:
Filmed at Taormina's Four Seasons While the Four Seasons in Maui doubled
for The White Lotus in the first season, the second season utilized another resort from
the same chain, the Four Seasons in Taormina , also known as the San Domenico Palace. That
wasn't necessarily the plan, however. As the real-life hotel's public relations coordinator,
Sonia Bonamassa, told The Guardian, there were scores of other resorts under consideration:
The fact that the hotel had historically been a convent dating back to the 1300s sealed the
deal. Speaking of the producers' decision to film there, Bonamassa told The Guardian:
In fact, the hotel's general manager, Lorenzo Maraviglia,
admitted he was impressed with the attention to detail that went into the show when it
came to depicting the realities of how a luxury resort is run. He told The Guardian:
Maraviglia went on to note that the interpersonal dynamics between hotel
staff and moneyed guests were accurate, if accentuated, telling The Guardian:
In addition to the hotel itself, the second season of The White Lotus made the most of filming in the
picturesque Sicilian town of Taormina by utilizing many of the local landmarks as settings for
various scenes. Filming also took place beyond Taormino itself. As Cosmopolitan pointed out,
some of the exterior shots were filmed in Palermo and Noto — although certain scenes,
in which sets needed to be built, were shot in a soundstage outside of Rome.
For those interested in learning more about the real-life locations where The White Lotus
was filmed, a seminar has been created that offers an educational look at those sites
in terms of their historical significance. The seminar, titled "Revealing the Secrets of 'The
White Lotus 2' Filming Locations," is presented by Dr. Dinara Saleeva,
who has a Ph.D. in comparative linguistics. According to the website Context Learning,
a promotional description of the seminar promises:
As TimeOut pointed out, filming of the second
season of The White Lotus spanned several months. During this time, Aubrey Plaza amused herself
by terrorizing her co-stars with an elaborate prank. As it turned out, some members of the cast
believed that the historic hotel, which dates back to the 14th century, was haunted. To capitalize on
those fears, Plaza snuck into the dressing rooms of some of her co-stars and arranged some of the
hotel's omnipresent reed diffusers as if they were piled-up sticks in The Blair Witch Project.
While she became the chief suspect, Plaza denied being the culprit, even as she took
things even further by slipping cryptic notes under her co-stars' doors. Actor Adam DiMarco,
in fact, had become particularly disturbed by the "hauntings" — something that filled Plaza
with glee. Plaza recalled in an interview with GQ:
One of the subplots in the
second season of The White Lotus features local sex worker Lucia, played by Simona
Tabasco, who's hired by sex-addicted Dominic, played by Michael Imperioli.
"Hard for me to make conversation right now. But you are very beautiful."
Her decision to become an escort, Tabasco told Jezebel of her character,
is the result of Lucia's ambition. Tabasco explained to the outlet:
While Lucia is continually reprimanded by the hotel's manager for lurking about in
search of men who will pay for her services, the scenario depicted in the series is far
more realistic than viewers may realize. In an essay she wrote for The Times, Imogen
Edwards-Jones — who spent a year researching the world of luxury resorts for her book Hotel
Babylon — revealed that sex workers are indeed a constant problem that staff at luxury resorts
found themselves dealing with on an ongoing basis. Edwards-Jones explained in her essay:
While many aspects of The White Lotus have been lauded for realistically depicting what goes on
within a luxury resort, there was one that devoted foodies took issue with. Throughout the episodes,
guests at the hotel are seen consistently having their meals in one of its restaurants,
rather than going off-resort to check out one of Taormina's fine dining establishments and
experiencing authentic Sicilian cuisine. One viewer crystallized that problem by tweeting,
In a piece for Bon Appetit, food writer Sam Stone decried the characters'
insistence on dining at the hotel for the entirety of their stay. Stone wrote:
The second season of The White Lotus,
like the first, unfolds like a puzzle slowly being solved. As a result,
viewers have not been shy about taking to social media to share their various theories. One fan
theory that gained traction, noted Variety, was that British expat Quentin is somehow involved
with Tanya's husband Greg in an elaborate con to grift her out of at least some of her millions.
Another theory, however, posits that Quentin is involved in an entirely different con,
to covertly film Tanya having sex with Niccoló in order to blackmail her. Meanwhile, the AV Club
detailed some additional theories, including one guessing that Cameron is secretly broke,
which is why he's so desperate to manage the newfound wealth of his pal Ethan.
Meanwhile, the wildest theory holds that Laura Dern — whose voice was heard in that
first-episode phone call — will make a surprise cameo in the season finale.