Unless you’ve been living completely off-grid for the past few years (good for you), you know that The White Lotus is now one of the biggest TV hits of recent memory, singularly winning 14 Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes; inspirational memes and iconic cultural moments (“Those gays!They’re looking to kill me!”); elevating actress Jennifer Coolidge to an even higher rung in the Hollywood pantheon; and turn its author Mike White into a surname.
The HBO-produced franchise-turned-miniseries, which airs on Max, revolves around fictional White Lotus resorts and dysfunctional psychosocial guest actors who weave in and out of glamorous hotels, bask in the sun on Maui and Sicily (as the seasons change). two respectively) and, let’s say, push each other to the limit. In addition to the surprising filming locations that necessarily serve as destination announcements (the screen has been partly to blame for making “set-jetting” a trend), performances by high-caliber actors and superstar names attached to the screen have turned the whole thing into a phenomenon. And now, a long-awaited third season is in the works.
White, who wrote and directed each and every episode of the first and second seasons, says he’s surprised the show has returned to the air: “I consider it an experimental show,” he told Entertainment Weekly, “so there’s never been any idea we’d even do some other season.
Equally surprising: The two hotel locations in both seasons were Four Seasons hotels. After the first season, White admitted that the hotel organization “was satisfied with the company. “But the fact that it’s now the image of the hotel from hell probably escaped them to some extent. To prove that there is no such thing as bad publicity, the exhibit has been moved to another stunning location of the Four Seasons for season two, this time in Sicily.
And the third season? You guessed it: the cast and crew are back at another Four Seasons. Read on to hear from our advisor about the celestial settings used in each season of The White Lotus and where they’re headed for season three.
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The first season of The White Lotus was filmed at the Four Seasons Resort Maui in Wailea, Maui, Hawai’i. An exclusive filming location was needed when HBO asked White to envision a showing that could be held under strict production rules due to Covid-19. pandemic. It was with this in mind that his brain turned to the vacations of his formative years, which for him were spent in Hawaii. He enjoyed the position so much that he bought a space on Hanalei on Kauai, and the recent arrival of billionaire “tech brothers” as neighbors fueled the exhibit’s story.
“At first, I’m like, ‘This is so beautiful! I’m in touch with nature and it’s so relaxing,'” she told The New Yorker. “Then you realize it’s on the backs of other people who have had a confusing history with other people like me. ” The result is The White Lotus, hastily written in August 2020 and filmed in his spare time, from October to December, with the cast and crew quarantined at the hotel the entire time.
Opened in 1990, Wailea’s Four Seasons Resort Maui lives up to the clichés of tropical paradise, with some of the suites we see in the series costing as much as $26,000 a night. In addition to the 380 rooms and suites, its 15 acres are home to 3 pools, 3 restaurants (including Wolfgang Puck’s Sago), 3 golf courses, a spa, and an art museum. Amazingly, White and his team had carte blanche, from the front and lobby to the restaurants, spa, and even near Wailea Beach.
Key to the drama are the suites, all carefully decorated to reflect their occupants, while keeping to strict ground rules laid down by the resort. While they weren’t allowed to paint the rooms, they could change the materials, bedding, and curtains—an important factor, as production designer Laura Fox explained to Architectural Digest: “They’re lovely rooms, but not to film in. I think [my job] was trying to find a version of a new hotel that was kitschy and flawed and rich, like the characters.”
Crai S. Bower
Brian Mayor
Terry Ward
Amber port
The Palm Suite, a home-away-from-home for the honeymooning characters Shane and Rachel, is one of the resort’s Elite Oceanfront Suites—and was given what Fox called an ‘anti-beach’ makeover with vintage greens, velvet, and hanging lights. The White Lotus’s other honeymoon suite, the Pineapple, is the Lokelani Presidential Suite; at 4,500 square feet, it’s the hotel’s (and Hawaii’s) largest, with three bedrooms, five bathrooms, and two living rooms. This was given a palette of yellow, green, and brown with, of course, pineapple motifs.
For the volatile Tanya, played by Jennifer Coolidge, who arrives with her mother’s ashes in a plastic bag, the Hibiscus Suite was created in one of the Prime Oceanfront Suites, with pinks and reds expressly designed to clash with her sartorial penchant for the bright prints. Then, for the Mossbacher family, led by technical manager Nicole, the Tradewinds Suite was created from the Male Presidential Suite, with a variety of blues and very ’70s Hawaiian art. It was the biggest replacement for the real Four Seasons hotel: In the Tradewinds. In the series, the Mossbacher children sleep in the living room, but the Maile is the second largest suite at the Four Seasons Maui, with 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and a full sauna included.
Apart from the rooms and restaurants, it’s the water that counts. The beach scenes aimed at Quinn Mossbacher were filmed on Wailea Beach, a short walk from the hotel, as seen on screen. For the pools, the action focused on two of the Four Seasons’ three pools, leaving the kid-friendly Waterfall Pool in the background. We spend a lot of time at Serenity Pool, where Shane and Rachel take over a cabana, the Mossbacher women read through the water, and Quinn heads to the pool bar, with her phone and console at arm’s length, like holy relics. For Quinn and his father’s scuba diving lessons, it’s the Fountain Pool, which is located in the center of the property.
The second season of The White Lotus was filmed at the San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel, in Taormina, Sicily. Situated high on the rocks a little inland, it overlooks the Ionian Sea, Mount Etna, and an ancient amphitheater, built in the Greek style by the Romans. The town is famous for its proximity to the still-active Etna, as well as the Isola Bella nature reserve and for its medieval architecture.
Crai S. Bower
Brian Mayor
Terry Ward
Amber Port
The San Domenico is almost as famous itself, built on the site of a 15th-century monastery and incorporating several historic features. In its original incarnation, opened with the addition of a Grand Hotel Wing in 1896, it hosted famous faces from Oscar Wilde to Audrey Hepburn and Edward VII, and its fame has only been boosted since its 2021 refurbishment as a member of the Four Seasons and, fictionally, the White Lotus. With 111 rooms, including suites and speciality suites, it features a spa, the fine-dining restaurant Principe Cerami, the pool-terrace diner Anciovi, courtyards and gardens that date back to the time of the monks, and an outdoor infinity pool that wins plenty of screen time on The White Lotus.
It’s not the first time he’s been to the movies, either. Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960 L’Avventura ended up at the hotel, and it’s also where the 1988 Grand Bleu jumpers stay as they prepare for a big competition.
Unlike season one, filmed under strict pandemic-era lockdown conditions, the second season allowed the characters to leave the confines of the hotel. As Mike White told Entertainment Weekly, this was a bonus: “I’m not going to complain about being at the Four Seasons Maui, but you do start to feel like it was a Hawaiian Shining. It was cool this season to be able to feature more of the city and some of the iconic places in Sicily. The canvas gets much bigger and that’s a huge improvement.”
Crai S. Bower
Brian Mayor
Terry Ward
Amber port
In addition to the town of Taormina and a yacht in the Ionian Sea, this included a stopover in Noto, on the southeastern tip of the island. This city is characterized by its Baroque architecture that dates back to the early 18th century after a devastating earthquake. For The White Lotus, it has become the place for a day when Harper and Daphne chat in the limestone square, while making a stop at the Palazzo Ducezio and the cathedral on Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
This seaside town near Palermo on the island’s north coast presented another outing for White Lotus’ guests. The architecture here dates back to medieval times, with a Norman cathedral and streets blending into a popular seaside resort. The port was featured in the film Cinema Paradiso as the location for an open-air screening of Kirk Douglas’ Ulysses. It is close to Piazza Marina, which appears in The White Lotus, most of the filming of the series took place on the seafront, near the Sea Palace Hotel, in Lungomare Giuseppe Giardina.
The third season of The White Lotus will be filmed at the Four Seasons Koh Samui. Located on a peaceful private peninsula on the island’s northeast coast, it’s just as glamorous as the show’s previous properties. Think breathtaking thatched-roof villas dotted across the landscape, with sprawling views out onto the Gulf of Thailand, sparkling infinity pools, and a world-class spa (where we hope to see more of Natasha Rothwell as she reprises her role as a spa director from the first season).
In addition to Rothwell, other recently announced cast members include Leslie Bibb, Harry Potter’s Jason Isaacs, Michelle Monaghan, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Sex Education’s Aimee Lou Wood. According to Bloomberg, this series will also feature a second hotel as a filming location. : Anantara Mai Khao Villas in Phuket. These striking pool villas offer visitors a modern and tranquil getaway beyond Phuket’s longest beach.
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