section_path: Production/Development
section_name: Development
paragraph_text: Development
  
  Development of the show began after the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, when Casey Bloys, HBO 's head of programming, asked Mike White if he had any ideas for a show that could be shot in a bubble environment under lockdown conditions.
  
  The show's concept was "partly inspired" by White's work on an earlier proposed series which was never picked up by any network: The Tears of St. Patsy, which would have featured Jennifer Coolidge "as a frustrated actor navigating a dangerous world".
  
  The initial problem White faced was where to set and shoot the show. White did not like commuting to a San Fernando Valley studio to shoot Enlightened (2011–2013)—though he is still proud of his work on that show—and wanted to take his next HBO project to exotic locations.
  
  The first idea was Australia, but eight-week-long work visas (the longest available at the time in 2020) were not long enough to shoot a full season. The second idea was Hawaii. At the time, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts was the only hotel operator in the state of Hawaii willing to allow HBO to take over a luxury hotel property for 13 weeks to shoot a new television series with an unknown plot. No scripts had been finished, and at that point all the production team had was a "nondescript first episode". But the show promised to bring some money to the hotel, which was preferable to staying closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
  At the beginning, "there was no money to make the show", so the producers decided to staff the show with an ensemble cast where "everyone is treated the same", paid the same, and gets "alphabetical billing ". All actors (regardless of prominence) must participate in auditions for their roles on the show, but they audition separately and there are no chemistry tests. The cast has to trust White's casting instincts and make it work when they finally meet one another at a Four Seasons resort. All regular cast members work "at scale"—reportedly, roughly $40,000 per episode—and that rule is "not negotiable". The producers knew some actors cannot accept such conditions and they "can't hold it against people who need to make a living", but imposing this system up front and continuing it into subsequent seasons enabled the producers to focus on casting "people who want to do the project for the right reasons".
  
  The show has since changed locations and casts each season, with very little continuity between them apart from the show's basic elements: "a social satire and a murder mystery" that is always set at a White Lotus resort and always begins with an unidentified corpse. The consistent theme is White's "semi-satirical" tone, but each season has been radically different from the previous ones, requiring "fans to transfer their loyalty to an almost entirely new show". About the lack of continuity, White explained: "This is, like, my dream gig. Because I can burn down the house at the end of every season and begin again". Before production began for each season, White stayed at the relevant Four Seasons resort to do research and write the scripts for that season.
  
  On October 19, 2020, HBO gave The White Lotus a limited series order that consisted of six episodes. The series was created, written and directed by White, who also serves as executive producer alongside David Bernad and Nick Hall.
  
  On August 10, 2021, HBO renewed the series for a second season, which consists of seven episodes.
  
  On November 18, 2022, HBO renewed the series for a third season. It was announced that the season would take place at a resort in Thailand. The third season's production was disrupted by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, resulting in the release being pushed to 2025. The story that season was originally set to feature the brief mention of one character having a nonbinary child, however this was later cut due to a political "vibe shift" coinciding with the election of President Donald Trump in November 2024. White further explained that "there's a lot of stuff that ended up being cut" from every episode. As written and filmed, the initial cuts were coming in at about an hour and 40 minutes in length. He needed to be "hard on the material", speed up the pace of the narrative, and get episode lengths down to about 60 minutes, though they were still "bulging" with plot points.
  
  During filming in Thailand, White pitched a fourth season over dinner in Phuket to Bloys, now the chairman and chief executive officer of HBO, and Francesca Orsi, executive vice president for drama programming.
  
  On January 22, 2025, ahead of the third-season premiere, HBO renewed the series for a fourth season. In February, Orsi said that they were about to start scouting locations for the fourth season and indicated that a return to Europe was "likely".
  
  Development of the show began after the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, when Casey Bloys, HBO 's head of programming, asked Mike White if he had any ideas for a show that could be shot in a bubble environment under lockdown conditions.
  
  The show's concept was "partly inspired" by White's work on an earlier proposed series which was never picked up by any network: The Tears of St. Patsy, which would have featured Jennifer Coolidge "as a frustrated actor navigating a dangerous world".
  
  The initial problem White faced was where to set and shoot the show. White did not like commuting to a San Fernando Valley studio to shoot Enlightened (2011–2013)—though he is still proud of his work on that show—and wanted to take his next HBO project to exotic locations.
  
  The first idea was Australia, but eight-week-long work visas (the longest available at the time in 2020) were not long enough to shoot a full season. The second idea was Hawaii. At the time, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts was the only hotel operator in the state of Hawaii willing to allow HBO to take over a luxury hotel property for 13 weeks to shoot a new television series with an unknown plot. No scripts had been finished, and at that point all the production team had was a "nondescript first episode". But the show promised to bring some money to the hotel, which was preferable to staying closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
  At the beginning, "there was no money to make the show", so the producers decided to staff the show with an ensemble cast where "everyone is treated the same", paid the same, and gets "alphabetical billing ". All actors (regardless of prominence) must participate in auditions for their roles on the show, but they audition separately and there are no chemistry tests. The cast has to trust White's casting instincts and make it work when they finally meet one another at a Four Seasons resort. All regular cast members work "at scale"—reportedly, roughly $40,000 per episode—and that rule is "not negotiable". The producers knew some actors cannot accept such conditions and they "can't hold it against people who need to make a living", but imposing this system up front and continuing it into subsequent seasons enabled the producers to focus on casting "people who want to do the project for the right reasons".
  
  The show has since changed locations and casts each season, with very little continuity between them apart from the show's basic elements: "a social satire and a murder mystery" that is always set at a White Lotus resort and always begins with an unidentified corpse. The consistent theme is White's "semi-satirical" tone, but each season has been radically different from the previous ones, requiring "fans to transfer their loyalty to an almost entirely new show". About the lack of continuity, White explained: "This is, like, my dream gig. Because I can burn down the house at the end of every season and begin again". Before production began for each season, White stayed at the relevant Four Seasons resort to do research and write the scripts for that season.
  
  On October 19, 2020, HBO gave The White Lotus a limited series order that consisted of six episodes. The series was created, written and directed by White, who also serves as executive producer alongside David Bernad and Nick Hall.
  
  On August 10, 2021, HBO renewed the series for a second season, which consists of seven episodes.
  
  On November 18, 2022, HBO renewed the series for a third season. It was announced that the season would take place at a resort in Thailand. The third season's production was disrupted by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, resulting in the release being pushed to 2025. The story that season was originally set to feature the brief mention of one character having a nonbinary child, however this was later cut due to a political "vibe shift" coinciding with the election of President Donald Trump in November 2024. White further explained that "there's a lot of stuff that ended up being cut" from every episode. As written and filmed, the initial cuts were coming in at about an hour and 40 minutes in length. He needed to be "hard on the material", speed up the pace of the narrative, and get episode lengths down to about 60 minutes, though they were still "bulging" with plot points.
  
  During filming in Thailand, White pitched a fourth season over dinner in Phuket to Bloys, now the chairman and chief executive officer of HBO, and Francesca Orsi, executive vice president for drama programming.
  
  On January 22, 2025, ahead of the third-season premiere, HBO renewed the series for a fourth season. In February, Orsi said that they were about to start scouting locations for the fourth season and indicated that a return to Europe was "likely".