“The White Lotus” in Thailand, more spiritual and tragic

“This new season has to do with religion and spirituality, with God, so that the stories with which the characters are a bit more existential and tragic. They are operatives, with an even more dramatic dimension ”, says Mike White, The creator of “The White Lotus”, He launched his third season in Max and tripled his audience in Latin America with respect to the previous ones.

“The White Lotus”, It is a social satire that develops in an exclusive resort in Thailand and follows the experiences of several guests and employees over a week. This season consists of eight episodes that throw one per week on Sundays at 21.

The first season, which premiered in July 2021, was held in Hawaii and received 20 Emmy nominations in 13 categories, winning ten awards. The second debuted in December 2022, was developed in Sicily and obtained 23 Emmy nominations. This passes in Thailand. We talked with White

Journalist: Why Thailand?

Mike White: I was originally obsessed with filming in Japan. I spent a lot of time there and I imagined what it would be like, but then we went to Thailand and obviously being such a fascinating country with lovely people captivated us. I had a strange experience. We became very ill with some kind of bronchitis, they put me a nebulizer that kept me awake for 48 hours and in those two days I came the whole third season. When I improved I went to the producers and convinced them to be in Thailand, of course Japan was spectacular but I turned through this country and it was the best decision.

Q.: How does Buddhism appear?

MW: I read a lot about Buddhism and for some reason this third season takes place in a Buddhist country. Buddhist ethics is in tune with stories and characters. I was always surprised by the spiritual dimension of Buddhism and how it impacts people, as transforms them. There are indirect features of that culture in small things.

Q.: How do new seasons reinvent themselves?

MW: To keep the series fresh, you need to expand or change. The first season revolved around privileges and the contrast between the lives of hotel employees and tourists. Then in the second season in Sicily the theme was more sex and dynamics between men and women with relationships from sexuality.

Q.: What do you resemble this to the previous seasons?

MW: As in the previous ones, there is the island to which people arrive by plane, boat and transforms them during that holiday week. The conflict would be the same, and there is a clientele that is similar, although it is not exclusively these people but those who expect to have those luxury vacations and how everything becomes an existential experience.

Q.: How did the conflicts of this third season appear?

MW: I cannot decipher well how, in this case there was a long time until I started filming where I was not writing so that I could opt for several ideas. I did not dimension it until I was in Tailanda but going to the Buddhist helped me to organize concepts and orchestrate the different characters.

Q.: Why animals as symbols?

MW: There is a kind of monkey that was in all seasons. I think we are animals and this edition takes that basic animality to try to rise in the spiritual. We put these monkeys sitting in a tree watching the characters, that having those philosophical conversations are definitely an elevation of the classic Homo Sapiens.

Q.: How is masculinity built?

MW: When I travel to Thailand I felt that there were many people who could not decipher where it was or how it was. I always write these hard characters like Rick, and this troop of peeled men appears traveling alone with younger brides as if they had escaped somewhere. I think that masculinity can be a kind of trap in this way of life and I observe how that isolates them. The character of Jason Isaacs and Walton’s are trapped and alone, I feel it was something interesting to explore.