Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The White Lotus season 2!!
The White Lotus season 2 finale revealed the corpse’s identity found in the first episode’s flash-forward, but the series had plenty of death fake-outs along the way. Throughout the season, no one was safe, with the dead body potentially belonging to any of the residents or employees of the White Lotus hotel in Sicily. Now that everything is wrapped up, there’s an opportunity to reflect on all those whose deaths were teased along the way.
The White Lotus season 2 began with Daphne bumping into a floating corpse while swimming in the ocean before the series flashed back to the beginning of the cast’s Sicilian vacation. As it turned out, the body belonged to Tanya McQuoid, a wealthy American woman who killed three men and then died falling off a boat because she believed that her husband was trying to have her kidnaped and killed. However, this death was only revealed in the last few minutes of The White Lotus season 2 finale, meaning that the series had plenty of time to tease deaths for many of its other characters.
Lucia
Lucia was a local sex worker who frequently found clients at the White Lotus hotel. Lucia was paid to spend the week with one of the American tourists, Dominic Di Grasso, who was there with his son and father. Lucia then seemingly developed a romantic relationship with Dominic’s son, Albie, but The White Lotus season 2 ending revealed the romance was a con. Lucia pretended to have a dangerous pimp, Alessio, and with it being staged that Alessio maintained almost complete control over her. Alessio soon began stalking Lucia and the Di Grassos, hinting that he may even kill Lucia because she owed him money.
Eventually, the Di Grassos traveled to rural Sicily to meet some relatives, bringing Lucia along as a translator. However, Alessio and one of his friends followed the Di Grassos’ car, with both vehicles eventually pulling over on a remote road. Alessio demanded that Lucia went with them, with the Di Grassos giving her up. At this point in the series, viewers wondered if this would be the last time Lucia was seen alive and that she might be the body floating in the sea. However, The White Lotus season 2 finale revealed that the con worked, as Albie guilt-tripped Dominic into paying Lucia $50,000, after which Lucia abandoned Albie, and it became clear that Alessio was Lucia’s friend.
Albie
Similarly to Lucia, another death fake-out was Albie, who also seemed to be in danger from Alessio during Lucia and Alessio’s con. As Alessio’s stalking became more and more threatening, the viewer was led to believe that Alessio may be angry at Albie for taking Lucia away, possibly angry enough to murder him and stop him from taking Lucia away to Los Angeles, an idea the pair discussed. This crisis was naturally averted, as Alessio had never intended to kill Albie and likely would have been very content after getting his cut from Lucia after his part in the con.
Cameron
Another big death fake-out was Cameron, who was probably the most theorized character to die throughout The White Lotus season 2’s run. Cameron acted as The White Lotus‘ villain character for season 2, cheating on his wife Daphne, belittling his friend Ethan, and attempting to hook up with Ethan’s wife, Harper. Harper even revealed in the season 2 finale that Cameron tried to kiss her in her bedroom, with him also undressing in front of her earlier in the season. This infuriated Ethan, who decided to confront Cameron, culminating in the death fake-out.
Ethan fought Cameron in the ocean, pinning him under the water for quite a while. Although Cameron eventually escaped, it seemed likely that Cameron was going to die. With the corpse being found in the ocean, it made sense for Cameron to drown in it. On top of that, shots of Cameron under the water had been present throughout the season, heavily implying that Cameron was going to die. However, as with Shane in The White Lotus season 1, killing off Cameron as the most dislikable character was too easy a storytelling decision.
Portia
Although Tanya ends up being the corpse in The White Lotus season 2, her assistant Portia was another character that was seemingly set up to die instead. After Tanya’s husband, Greg, left Italy, Tanya made friends with an Englishman named Quentin and his friends. However, Tanya began believing that Greg hired these men to kill her so that Greg could inherit her wealth, with Tanya even convincing Portia of this as well. Portia had become lovers with Jack, a young Englishman claiming to be Quentin’s nephew, but when Jack was confronted about the plot, things got dangerous.
After Portia told Jack that she wanted to return to Tanya at the resort, Jack pressured Portia into not leaving. She revealed that she knew Jack was hiding something, including that he stole her phone and the twist that Jack and his supposed uncle had sex. Jack’s demeanor quickly changed, and with Portia stuck in the car with him, it seemed that he may be preparing to kill Portia. Although the beginning of the finale set up that Portia was in imminent danger, this was yet another fake-out. Jack simply left her near the airport and gave her phone back. However, her boss Tanya wasn’t so fortunate.
Giuseppe
The final major death fake-out was Giuseppe, the piano player who performed in the White Lotus restaurant. Early in the season, Lucia’s friend Mia accidentally triggered a reaction in Giuseppe with a pill she believed was Viagra, causing him to have a medical emergency. Giuseppe disappeared for a while, causing some viewers to believe he might have died. However, he angrily reappeared at the hotel in the finale, potentially setting up a death similar to Armond’s in The White Lotus season 1, in which Mia might potentially kill him out of panic. However, Giuseppe threatened to sue the hotel and left, making him the final major death fake-out in The White Lotus season 2.
