The creator, writer, and director of HBO’s The White Lotus, Mike White, has suggested the show could adopt a Marvel Cinematic Universe-style approach in the future. The White Lotus season 1 premiered in July of this year featuring just six episodes. The season finale is set to air on August 15.
The White Lotus is billed as a social satire. It follows the exploits of the employees and guests at an exclusive Hawaiian resort over the course of one week. As the series goes on, what starts out as a short, relaxing holiday turns out to be more than what both the staff and guests bargained for. The cast is a truly star-studded one, featuring big names like Jennifer Coolidge (American Pie, Legally Blonde), Connie Britton (American Horror Story, Bombshell), Natasha Rothwell (Insecure, Sonic the Hedgehog) and Steve Zahn (Reality Bites, Sahara) – plus many more. The show is already a huge hit with viewers, who are no doubt keen on the idea of an additional season from White and his team.
According to TVLine, those who enjoy The White Lotus could be in luck. White said in a recent interview with the publication that season 2 has not only been discussed but that the show could bring in new stars in addition to some of the original cast in an MCU-style return, if it were to go ahead. White explained:
We have had discussions, but it remains unresolved . . . It would have to be a different hotel, like, say, The White Lotus: San Tropez or something . . . I don’t think you can credibly have [all the Season 1 guests] on the same vacation again. But maybe it could be a Marvel universe type thing . . . We only made one-year deals with the actors, so we’d have to find out who is even available.
White is referring to the common MCU practice of featuring characters from different Marvel films across multiple projects, reinforcing that the characters all exist within the same cinematic universe. For example, Tony Stark/Iron Man appears in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but the film itself isn’t fundamentally about his character. It could work well for The White Lotus to adopt the same style, changing the location and central plot of the series but bringing back some of the original actors from season 1 to reprise their roles in select episodes.
This would be a clever move from White, allowing fan favorites to remain on screen and bring back loyal viewers from season 1, while also making room for some fresh faces to be added to the cast. Even just reuniting with original characters for a scene or two would be exciting. For now, however, audiences may have to wait awhile for any further updates: as of now, HBO hasn’t ordered The White Lotus season 2.
