Seven out of the eight Emmy nominated performers from HBO’s The White Lotus aren’t in season 2, however, creator Mike White has teased to some of them potential future storylines.
The HBO limited series came up strong at the Primetime Emmy noms today, earning a total 20, making it the second-highest lauded series this year after HBO’s Succession (25) and tying with AppleTV+’s Ted Lasso.
Of the eight cast members nominated, five were in the supporting actress category alone –Connie Britton (Nicole Mossbacher), Alexandra Daddario (Rachel Patton), Natasha Rothwell (Belinda Lindsey), Sydney Sweeney (Olivia Mossbacher) and Jennifer Coolidge (Tanya McQuoid), the latter being the only core cast member to reprise her role for White Lotus: Sicily.
Three were nominated in the supporting actor limited/anthology series: Steve Zahn (Mark Mossbacher), Jake Lacy (Shane Patton), and Murray Bartlett (Armond).
Both Daddario and Lacy, who play melancholy newlyweds, told Deadline that White has already floated an idea for a future episode with their characters.
“Shane and I would be on a boat, talking about other people, annoying everyone around us,” said Daddario, “Mike’s brain is always working. That’s the whole thing with his commentary on the world around him: He’s always observing.”
Lacy expounded, “Mike texted Alex and I with this idea for an episode where the two of us are talking for a half hour; it’s just the banality of rich people on a boat.”
Lacy also had his own idea for a future cameo: “I had hoped that Molly Shannon and I would be in the back of a shot; the two of us on vacation in another location, chewing out a concierge. It’s like ‘that guy is still out there. He’s not even on trial; the dude is still going on vacation!”.
While keeping mum about where her uber-career, priveleged woman Nicole goes next, Britton told us, “He wanted me to be in the second season, and there was an idea that I loved for the character. Our intention is to do it in the third season. A piece of casting didn’t work in the second season and we’re hoping to that in the third season. I would love to see a spinoff on every character in that show.”
Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer at HBO and HBO Max, told Deadline’s Peter White that he’s open to a third season of White Lotus.
“The show is a lot for Mike. Obviously, he went from Hawaii to Italy, and so he would have to think about where does he want to go?,” Bloys told Deadline. “Most showrunners I find… nobody’s doing a show just to do it. They really have to be motivated by a story that they feel like they’ve got to tell, they’ve got to get out of them. Mike is no different. If he has a story or a theme that he wants to explore for a third season, obviously, we would be we would be thrilled to have that conversation with him.”
“On the night before we started shooting Mike said, ‘Well you know, whoever is the best actor gets a spinoff series,” recalled Bartlett whose luxe Hawaiian resort manager suffers a specific tragedy in season one. “Well, we can always go back in time or come back as a ghost” the Emmy nominee mused. Bartlett gave props today to White Lotus casting director Meredith Tucker for getting his tape in front of White. The actor says he’s already seen a photo of the season 2-Sicilian hotel ‘Armond’ manager on the down-low.
Coolidge told us today that season 2 of White Lotus: Sicily “is even more complicated than the first,” that it’s “a different show.” In season 2, her emotionally befuddled, lovelorn rich lady is traveling with her assistant, Portia, played by Haley Lu Richardson. Season 2 was shot at the San Domenico Palace, Taormina, a Four Seasons Hotel. Bloys told Deadline that the season 2 should be back on the air in consideration for next year’s Emmys.
Britton received her fifth acting Emmy nomination today with White Lotus. Many of the limited series’ actors and actresses were first time Emmy nominees with Sweeney also being nominated in supporting actress drama series for Euphoria. For Rothwell, White Lotus repped the second Emmy nom of her career after being nominated for Best Comedy Series for HBO’s Insecure in 2020.