Laurie (Carrie Coon), Kate (Leslie Bibb), and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan) vacationing in Thailand in The White Lotus (2025).
Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO
Initially, I was not going to write about The White Lotus but I changed my mind once I heard an interview with Mike White, the creator of the show, on Andrew Sullivan’s (that name will be familiar to anyone who regularly pays attention to politics) podcast. Those interested in listening to this interview should note that it is only available to the podcast’s subscribers.
After listening to it myself, I got a lot of insight into White and how his mind works, so I just knew that I had to write a piece about the show. Unlike many analyses of this series, mine will focus specifically on White and his process.
His father, James Melville “Mel” White, was a speechwriter and a ghost writer for Religious Right (The Religious Right are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies.) figures such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Roberston. Additionally, White’s father was a closeted homosexual. Growing up, Mike did not attend a Christian educational institution, but a wealthy prep school. He was not as wealthy as his classmates, but his father was able to pay for him and his sister to attend. Once they both graduated, their father came out, but tried to get the Religious Right to accept him and other homosexuals in the evangelical Christian community.
White started his career as a writer for popular shows like Dawson’s Creek and Freaks and Geeks. I first became familiar with his work when he wrote and starred in the indie comedy-drama film Chuck & Buck (2001). Back when they were eleven years old, the main characters experimented with each other sexually. At twenty-seven, Buck has reached the maturity level of an adolescent, but Chuck (who by this point in the film calls himself Charlie) is a successful music industry exec. Buck still longs for Chuck, but Chuck has repressed those feelings and acts like the incident never happened. That doesn’t stop Buck from stalking Chuck at work and home. He even writes a play on what happened to them at eleven years old and invites Chuck to the première. This was unlike any film I had ever seen before.
White went on to write several successful screenplays, including the widely acclaimed School of Rock (2003). He also made his directional debut in another comedy-drama, Year of the Dog (2007) featuring a woman (played by Molly Shannon) who loses her dog to an accidental poisoning and becomes a vegan and an animal rights activist. The film provides insight into what could cause a former meat eater to advocate for animal rights, but doesn’t seem to pass judgment on the main protagonist or anyone else who chooses to continue to eat meat.
Like most people who are successful behind the camera, White wasn’t a recognizable face in the public eye. He changed that by appearing in two reality TV shows. First, he was on The Amazing Race and then teamed up with his father for The Amazing Race: The Unfinished Business. On the show, his father found the acceptance he was seeking from the Religious Right community. He also appeared on Survivor: David and Goliath.
White’s biggest success, however, came about during the COVID-19 pandemic. HBO approached him for ideas, and the result was The White Lotus. This comedy-drama, set at a lavish resort for the wealthy, first premiered in 2021. White’s contributions helped the show cover both the elite and the working class so well, but it wasn’t until I heard Sullivan’s podcast, in which White described growing up as a student of modest means in a wealthy school, that I came to realize how he could successfully portray both classes in his work.
The show also has a murder mystery element that keeps the audience wondering not only whodunit, but who the victim is. We just don’t find that out until the final episode.
The other interesting thing about The White Lotus is that it falls under the same category as Chuck & Buck and Year of The Dog. However, those two films weren’t mainstream successes. Nor did White refine his formula in any way when it came to the making of The White Lotus. Rather, I think that when those two films initially came out mainstream audiences weren’t ready for White’s unique blend of comedy and drama, but by the time The White Lotus aired, they finally were.
The White Lotus was meant to last one season, but the first one was so successful that White ended up doing two more. Each season featured different characters and locations (Sicily for the second season, and Thailand for the third), but retained the same blend of comedy, drama, and murder mystery. Only one character, Greg (known as Gary as of the third season), has been in all three seasons. White mentioned on Sullivan’s podcast that he had already written a fourth season, but I will focus on the third season here, for it explores the concept of identity.
Looking back at White’s history, we can presume that he has been searching for his own identity as a successful screenwriter, a reality TV star, and now the creator of a successful TV series. It is thus probably not surprising that, in this season, we meet a series of people whose identities have defined them. Timothy Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) grew up in a wealthy household, and his parents expected him to become a wealthy investor. His wife Victoria (Parker Posey) and his eldest son Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) expect him to be financially successful and have wrapped their identities around that expected success. While on vacation, he discovers that his fraud has been exposed because a partner ratted him out. His assets are frozen, and he is looking at possible jail time. All of this could unravel the identity he has built for himself, which, at one point, he complains about having to carry on his shoulders since day one.
Another character, Rick (Walton Goggins), had his life ruined when his mother told him his father was murdered. The perpetrator is currently living in Thailand and is married to Sritala (Lek Patravadi), the owner of the Thailand White Lotus. Rick feels that happiness is only possible if he murders his father’s killer.
A third character, Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimong), is a friendly security guard, but his coworkers wonder if he is too friendly to be effective in this role after a robbery takes place at the resort. His boss wants him to learn how to use a gun in order to prevent further robberies, and Mook (Thidapon Sornsin), a coworker for whom Gaitok has developed romantic feelings, expects him to be tougher. Gaitok has doubts as to whether or not he can change his identity to fit their expectations.
Last but not least are the best friends Kate (Leslie Bibb), Laurie (Carrie Coon), and Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan). They have been friends since high school and are now in their forties. At first glance, all three seem to have the same exact identity. However, during their vacation, the differences among them begin to emerge. The biggest one is Kate’s revelation that she might have voted for Trump in the latest presidential election while her two friends voted for Harris. This admission got the attention of many people (the reactions can be read in this link) and reflects the current political divide at the highest levels of the United States government. The show uses this discord among friends to prompt the viewers to question what a typical Trump or Harris voter may look or act like. When it comes to a wealthy woman vacationing at a fancy resort, our first instinct is to assume that she is a Harris voter, but it turns out she may not be one after all. This asks us to rethink our initial impressions of these characters and to question whether a person’s morality can be really judged based on who they voted for. Even if Kate did vote for Trump, she appears to be a morally fine person. She is the only one in a stable romantic relationship, and when tension arises among the three women, she tries to be neutral and keep their friendship intact. And, while Kate’s two friends talk behind her back about how she could possibly have voted for Trump, they never distance themselves from her. This tells us that people with political differences can still be close if all parties involved want that.
When White was asked about Kate’s character and her politics, he replied that some people on the liberal left had become as judgmental as the Religious Right community he grew up in. White further added that he is careful not to judge people because of the way this group treated his father.
This philosophy is not just focused on Kate. The White Lotus characters who seem morally wrong at first turn out to have redeeming qualities by the end of the episode or season. Likewise, over time viewers learn that characters that are initially thought to be innocent are in fact morally compromised. Religion plays a part here, but it is not used to judge any of the characters outright except when Victoria finds out that her middle daughter Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook) is considering joining a Buddhist Monastery. Upon hearing this, Victoria prays to Jesus to save Piper from the Buddhists. White is a Buddhist himself, and in the show, several characters strive to live according to this philosophical tradition, but it is only the most unlikely of them that end up truly living up to Buddhist ideals. Kate goes to church regularly, and Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) is into astrology, but neither of them is ever mocked for their beliefs.
There are many reasons why The White Lotus is such a successful show, but my theory is that it is because of Mike White’s focus on character identities and how they are not always what they appear to be at first. By asking viewers to look beyond these initial impressions and thanks to his refusal to judge anyone, White has created some of the most complex three-dimensional characters on TV right now, which is what separates The White Lotus from countless other shows that are currently streaming.
