I’ve been in love with Parker Posey to some degree ever since I first saw her as an incredibly mean cheerleader, screaming at terrified young women to “fry like bacon, you little freshman piggies! Fry!” and squirting them with ketchup and mustard, in Dazed and Confused. It’s perhaps only natural, then, that my brain has glommed onto her upcoming role in the Thailand-set third season of The White Lotus as a kind of salvation from the brutal realities of our political moment.
Has the show premiered yet? No. Have we even gotten a full-length trailer? No. Am I already imagining Posey’s dry delivery of iconic, queer-centric past White Lotus lines, like Jennifer Coolidge’s “These gays, they’re trying to murder me” and Sydney Sweeney’s “It comes off as homophobic”? Of course. Hearing Posey holler “If somebody stole my Lorazepam, I’m going to have to drink myself to sleep” in the season’s first teaser is so good already.
Besides Posey, Lisa from Blackpink will also be checking into the White Lotus this season, along with stars like Michelle Monaghan, Jason Isaacs, Leslie Bibb, Tayme Thapthimthong, Dom Hetrakul, Carrie Coon, Christian Friedel, Morgana O’Reilly, Lek Patravadi, Shalini Peiris, Walton Goggins, Sarah Catherine Hook, Sam Nivola, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Charlotte Le Bon, Nicholas Duvernay, Arnas Fedaravičius, Aimee Lou Wood, and, of course, the great Natasha Rothwell.
Given White’s preternatural ability to satirize privilege onscreen, it’s a safe bet to say that the new season, which premieres on February 16, will delve into how whiteness, wealth, and global tourism have affected Thai life and industry. Will there be a Tanya McQuoid type on hand to botch the wai? Unclear as of yet, though Parker’s character seems a likely culprit.
