HBO clearly likes what they see with Mike White’s “The White Lotus,” a new series that has earned solid ratings but also really captured the conversation on social media. This critically-acclaimed six-part limited series will return for a second installment, the streaming and cable subscriber announced today. Perhaps most importantly, if you’ve fallen in love with any of the characters of this vacation-set series, HBO says the next chapter will feature new characters and a new locale. This makes sense, “The White Lotus” is a social satire set at an exclusive Hawaiian resort and follows the vacations of various hotel guests over the span of a week as they relax and rejuvenate in paradise. But with each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travelers, the hotel’s cheerful employees and the idyllic locale itself.
The idea, of course, is to interrogate and lampoon vacation life, the illusion of it all, those trying to maintain it—the staff, the employees—and those enjoying it—those on vacation—and how all those disparate people can clash. The finale episode of “The White Lotus” debuts this Sunday, and episodes are available to stream on HBO Max.
HBO says the next chapter of “The White Lotus” leaves Hawaii behind and follows a different group of vacationers as they jet to another White Lotus property and settle in temporarily amongst its inhabitants. Currently ranking #1 among all series on HBO Max, The White Lotus” has achieved consistent week over week growth for both premiere and digital audience, leading into the finale episode.
Creator, writer, director Mike White (HBO’s “Enlightened“) recently teased the possibility of a second season and said he and HBO had been in talks for more, but only if he was able to start from scratch with a new cast and setting, and clearly, he got his way.
“Mike has once again delivered a quintessential HBO show, and it’s the talk of the town. We were thrilled to hear where he wanted to go next after closing this epic chapter in Hawaii and can’t wait to keep following him wherever he takes us,” said Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President, HBO Programming, in a statement.
“The White Lotus” currently stars the ensemble cast of Murray Bartlett, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Fred Hechinger, Jake Lacy, Brittany O’Grady, Natasha Rothwell, Sydney Sweeney, Steve Zahn, and Molly Shannon. It would not surprise if they brought back one character as a hook, Bartlett’s “White Lotus” resort manager? But who knows, maybe White and HBO will still to that promise.