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Briefing Few shows borrows themselves to settle like that White lotusThe brutal satirical drama of the writer Mike White, with a percentage of Ennui loaded towards a luxury title hotel, from which one will inevitably not leave. For the third season, exploring spiritual and darkest underains in Thailand, Jennifer Coolidge will not return from the dead, but there will be a new ensemble caste of all the stars of characters sitting somewhere in a spectrum between charming and monstrous-included here the 1990s Indie Queen Parker Posey, Consequence‘S Walton Goggins and Lalisa Manobal of K-Pop Mega-Grup Blackpink.
Location Whereas the first season influenced by the play Pandemia in 2021 was exclusively shot in the four seasons of Maui in Wailea, Hawaii, the second season in Sicily was slightly wider, with the main shots in the four seasons San Domenico in Taormina , a 14th-century monastery conversion, and excursions to points such as the neoclassical lush villas of Palermo Tasca.
The third ambitious season covers much more ground, with scenes in Bangkok, Phuket and Time Samui from these houses for the main location, project designed Bill Bensley Four seasons Koha Samui (FARSEASONS.com; By £ 1,037 per night), with its infinity cottage pools that embrace the steep hill of a lush former coconut walnut in the northwestern corner of the island.
Other scenes Samui were shot in Anantara bophut (anantara.com; By £ 149 per night), on the beach about 11 km to the east, and nearby Fisherman’s villageWith its open beach restaurants and Backpacker-Boho (Coco Tam’s Beach Bar and Restaurant Night Market was a favorite with Castin, who mainly stayed in Four Season during filming).
Phuket also plays a large part, with beach scenes on the island Anantara Mai Khao Vila (anantara.com; by £ 200 per night)), with its Thai-versnacular villas and glass walls in a lotus-filled lagoon. Characters also take a boat trip beyond evocal limestone shelves in Tree bayBetween Phuket and Krabi, house on the island of Zuzar in 1974 Bond film The man with the golden weapon.
And in the capital, there are scenes in Oriental Bangkok (Mandarinoriental.com; By £ 440 per night), iconic Riverside Grande Dame who was a favorite of Joseph Conrad and Noel Coward, and still often tops the “best in Asia” lists (was the 12th list of the world’s best hotels last year ). Other shooting places include the golden Buddha 69 meters in Charroen Charoen Charoen Templethe famous back Khao San Road And the wide Chatuchak marketWith more than 15,000 stalls, where coconut ice cream at Coco JJ is more pleasing than the exotic section of pets.
After the scene According to Sam Hutchins, White location manager (“a workaholic and a genius”) considered up to 10 Asian countries for this season. But while the wide hotels of the India Palace did not work hard on the screen, the Maldivian resorts were highly one-dimensional and Japan was logically complicated, Thailand scored all the world-class crews and equipment in the country, large tax deductions and a tantalizing cultural cocktail of local spiritual and imported licensee.
Hutchins, White and a small team made a five-week record in the fall of 2023. “It was a trip where the line between work and pleasure became very unclear,” says Hutchins. “We would receive these detailed welcome as those on the show, and there were so many meals with 13 and I almost had the ground floor.”
Many of their experiences influenced filming: Like the Muay Thai boxing period attending Phuket, or a visit to the eccentric home of Bill Bensley Bangkok, Baan Botanica, with its 1,500 species of plants and Roaming Jack Russells. Bensley not only led the team to his hotels, but in two private villas for which he would work in Phuket, where White ended up staying for a comprehensive article, and eventually filming scenes.
Hutchins says there was no preliminary agreement to use a four -season hotel as the main location for the third time, though there is now an official partnership, with four seasons resorts around the world leading the topic. “There was a greatness in the usual spaces that simply felt right about what we needed,” says Hutchins, who nevertheless admits that he stands in the most affordable anantar by his family.
Creating Viabilit White lotus can satirize Eat pray love Trends, but Koh Samui boasts an impressive series of highly valued Holistic Wellness resorts, with personalized programs in the likes of Sacred (absolutely; By £ 140 per night) north and Kamalay (kamalaya.com; By £ 210 per night, minimum three-night stay) to the south, and a more intense concentration in yoga and breath in it Samahita (SaLahitareat.com; by £ 143 For one night, the minimum three-night stay), a former yoga teaching school. And not to cheer the Sanskrit, euphoric hugs and colonic hydrotherapy get a lot, are only 20-30 minutes on the ferry from Samui to Phangan, where full moon holidays, shocking fungus and all existential products products Lily Hangover wait.
‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 is in Sky Atlantic and now in the UK and HBO and Max in SH.BA
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