During a recent seminar at the Tokyo Film Festival, Toho Tombo producer Georgina Pope revealed that The White Lotus Season 3 almost took place in Japan. Pope accompanied series creator Mike White on a location scouting trip in Honshu. However, despite their eagerness to shoot in Japan, the creative team of The White Lotus Season 3 ultimately decided to bring the project to Thailand due to better tax incentives.
“It was a great scout. We saw some absolutely stunning locations all over Honshu. The showrunner loved it all, and I was feeling very confident that I had it all in the bag,” Pope recalled. “[However,] the Thai government had just announced a renewal and improvement on their film incentive system. A 30% rebate. For their project, that meant 4.4 million dollars alone.
She added, “Everyone looked at me with sympathy. At the time in Japan, we had no incentive in place at all. I could not respond with a concrete answer. All I could hear was the sound of a 35 million dollar project flying out the window.”
The White Lotus Season 3 Takes Place in Asia
The White Lotus is created, written, and directed by White (Enlightened). It is executive produced by White, David Bernard, Mark Kamine, and Nick Hall. The highly-anticipated third season is reportedly going to take place in Thailand after Seasons 1 and 2 were filmed in Hawaii and Italy, respectively. Season 3 is expected to feature the return of Season 1 cast member Natasha Rothwell as she reprises her role as Belinda Lindsay.
The White Lotus Season 2’s cast included Season 1 alum Jennifer Coolidge as Tanya McQuoid, Michael Imperioli as Dominic Di Grasso, Aubrey Plaza as Harper Spiller, F. Murray Abraham as Bert Di Grasso, Haley Lu Richardson as Portia, Theo James as Cameron, Meghann Fahy as Daphne, and Will Sharpe as Ethan. The latest installment won two Golden Globe awards out of four nominations for Best Limited Series and for Best Supporting Actress for Coolidge’s return as Tanya.
