Arriving in Bangkok on Thursday, the White Lotus experience began before I reached the outer city limits. As I left the airport and looked through the blacked-out windows of my car, I could see an enormous billboard lit up to read ‘Sawadsee Ka’—Thai for ‘welcome’—above an image of a white lotus flower. (The only direct giveaway it was related to the show at all? A discrete HBO logo in the bottom corner.)
Yes, for the third season of Mike White’s trouble-in-paradise HBO series, his privileged guests are heading east—to Thailand. Continuing the tradition of filming at a Four Seasons hotel, this time around, they’ll be checking into the brand’s lavish, wellness-focused resort in Koh Samui. Here, it kickstarts a season that meditates on spirituality, family, and each guest’s readiness (or not) to shuffle off this mortal coil. As ever, the magic lies not just in the intricately plotted mystery (or, more accurately, multiple intertwining mysteries) that will keep the audience tuning in every week, but in the richly drawn characters and the thoughtful performances that bring them to life. There’s the trio of glamorous forty-something women reuniting for a girl’s trip, with their latent resentments bubbling just underneath the surface, played to perfection by Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan, and Leslie Bibb. Then we meet the middle-aged wheeler-dealer boyfriend and his younger, wide-eyed girlfriend played by Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood. There’s the sense that somehow, you actually know these people.
Given the Thai setting, the decision was made soon after filming wrapped to throw an elaborate, no-expenses-spared premiere event in Bangkok. A weekend of events revolve around the opulent setting of the Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok at Chao Phraya River, ranked the third-best hotel in the world by World’s 50 Best in 2023. And in a White Lotus-worthy twist of fate—and what might just be the quickest “yes” I’ve said to anything ever—I was invited to come along for the ride.
After a day of sampling the hotel’s various pools and restaurants (and a quick dash to the mall to buy an emergency suit after leaving mine in London), I headed down to the hotel’s private waterfront, where the cast began to gather around the Palmier restaurant, a heavy security presence lining the perimeter. Just beyond were a handful of Blackpink super fans who’d clearly had the smart idea to come here, rather than the premiere red carpet, to catch a glimpse of their idol. Sure enough, at around 5.30 p.m., Lisa emerged, resplendent in a sweeping pink satin Louis Vuitton gown and Bvlgari jewels, and without so much as a single bead of sweat on her forehead. She headed towards the flotilla of White Lotus-branded (and mercifully air-conditioned) boats that were pulled up at the dock, to head upriver to the Iconsiam mall where the screening was taking place.
