For those eagerly waiting for a return trip to The White Lotus, you may be out of luck, for the foreseeable at least. In an exclusive interview with Deadline, HBO’s Head of Content Casey Bloys announced that series three of the Emmy-winning hit show will likely not return until 2025, despite an original goal of having the project ready for release in 2024. The reason, you ask? The actors strike of course!
Commencing on July 14th of this year, the actors strike orchestrated by The Screen Actor’s Guild of America (SAG) is coming on nearly four months now, despite hints of a possible resolution in later October. With their request for increased residual pay, more secure employment contracts and promises that A.I be withheld from replacing actors themselves, SAG are allegedly approaching a deal, however the A.I issue, in typically dystopian fashion, remains unresolved.
The result of this record-breaking long strike is the inevitable delay of numerous releases, including The White Lotus. Whilst writer and creator Mike White may now be able to continue writing for the upcoming season since the resolution of the writer’s strike earlier this autumn, no significant amount of pre-production can be completed without casting the roles.
Aside from the series’ location of Thailand being announced earlier this year, and the confirmation of Natasha Rothwell’s return as Belinda from series one, little else is known about the upcoming season. Despite a lack of detailed information, White did however state the third series is “going to be a supersized ‘White Lotus’”, in an exclusive interview with EW: “It’s going to be longer, bigger, crazier”.
As we edge towards a resolve in the strike, stay tuned for further updates on all things The White Lotus series three.
Words by Ben Carpenter
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