With new episodes of The White Lotus hitting Showmax and M-Net every Monday, Jim Halterman caught up with Mike White to find out more about writing, directing and executive producing the hit HBO show, which has won 15 Emmys so far and has already been renewed for a fourth season. 

Why Thailand this season?

Originally, I wanted to shoot in Japan. I’ve spent more time there and I just had a vision for doing it in Japan. 

Then we got to Thailand and obviously it’s such a lovely country and the people charmed us. Then I had a weird experience where I got very sick with some kind of bronchitis and they put me on a nebuliser, which I’d never been on before, and it kept me awake for 48 hours. In those 48 hours, the whole season came to me, so after I got better, I came to the producers and said, “I think I just came up with the season and it’s in Thailand.’ 

Obviously, Japan is amazing and it would be incredible to shoot there, but it turned out to be such a great decision to shoot in Thailand and very life changing.

I’ve read a lot of Buddhism in my life for whatever reason, so the idea that Season 3 would be in a Buddhist country and grapple with some of the concepts of the Buddhist religion excited me. 

How do you keep The White Lotus feeling fresh each season? 

For the show to feel fresh, it needs to either expand or shift or change. The first season was a lot about privilege and a kind of upstairs/downstairs thing with the employees and the guests and the comedy of that. And then, when we were in Italy [for Season 2], the theme was more about sex and the dynamic between men and women. This season is dealing with more religion and spirituality and God, so the show itself and the kind of stories that these characters are facing are a little bit more existential and tragic.