Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
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It may not exactly be Hotel California, but it sure seems difficult to leave “The White Lotus.” After a critically acclaimed first season — which was echoed in audience reception and ratings — HBO’s titular hotel chain is back for more romance, relaxation and really complicated situations. “The White Lotus” Season 2 kicks off on HBO and HBO Max Sunday, Oct. 30.
This time spanning one week at the luxurious White Lotus resort in Sicily (actually the real-life Four Seasons San Domenico Palace in Taormina, which was closed for filming earlier this year), the scenery remains just as breathtaking as Season 1’s Hawaiian vista in Maui. In addition to several scenes on-site at the hotel, viewers can look forward to scenes shot in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, including the city’s famous Noto Cathedral grounds.
Although the location may have changed, audiences who enjoyed Season 1 will have at least one familiar thing to look forward to this time around: Tanya McQuoid (now McQuoid-Hunt), played by comic actress Jennifer Coolidge (“Legally Blonde,” 2001), returns to soak up more drama and wisdom in the sun. A fan-favorite character from the first season, she heads to the chain’s Italian resort this year with her new husband, Greg Hunt (Jon Gries, “Napoleon Dynamite,” 2004), also returning from last season.
Fans of other HBO shows might recognize a few other faces as well during Season 2.
“The Sopranos’” Michael Imperioli stars as Dominic Di Grasso, an entitled Hollywood producer who is visiting Sicily with his aging father, Bert (F. Murray Abraham, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” 2014), and post-college son, Albie (Adam DiMarco, “The Order”), who is often forced to play peacekeeper during uncomfortable family squabbles.
Theo James, star of HBO Max’s series “The Time Traveler’s
Wife,” also stars this season as Cameron Babcock, an incredibly successful businessman from a wealthy family. Needless to say, it becomes clear almost immediately that Cameron rarely (if ever) worries about money. Traveling with Cameron are his wife, Daphne (Meghann Fahy, “The Bold Type”), a hard-working stay-at-home mom; Cameron’s college roommate and newly successful businessman Ethan Spiller (Will Sharpe, “Flowers”); and Ethan’s wife, Harper (Aubrey Plaza, “Ingrid Goes West,” 2017).
Filling out the cast across this season’s seven episodes are Haley Lu Richardson (“Five Feet Apart,” 2019) as Tanya’s personal assistant, Portia; Beatrice Grannò (“Zero”) and Simona Tabasco (“Luna Park”) as Mia and Lucia, two young Sicilian locals who frequent the hotel hoping to benefit from its wealthy clientele; Tom Hollander (“Pride & Prejudice,” 2005) as Quen
tin, an English expat visiting with friends and his nephew; and Sabrina Impacciatore (“The Passion of the Christ,” 2004) as Valentina, the White Lotus’s dedicated, perfectionist manager.
All these characters come together like pieces in a complicated (and very posh) puzzle as the season progresses, and much like in Season 1, viewers can expect the writers to have put some very clever dialogue into the mouths of the White Lotus guests.
While Season 1 touched on cancel culture, the burdens/ benefits of generational wealth, the connection between one’s career and their identity, existential dread, colonialism, Millennial/Gen Z sensitivity and so much more, Season 2 appears to tackle everything from the importance of voting to preserve democracy to one’s loss of morals due to new-found wealth and more.
If the trailer is anything to go by, there will be plenty of arguments, suspicion, accusations, sexual encounters, selfexploration, loss of identity, regrets and, of course, Italian food and culture. It’s strange to think that such an elaborate commentary on the human condition and our lives in this day and age could be reflected in a series that began with such a simple idea.
“What I wanted to do originally was a show about a couple on a honeymoon,” creator Mike White said of his first draft of “The White Lotus.” He continued, “You don’t know the person until they’re in this situation [on vacation with them].”
This idea clearly evolved into a much more elaborate (and beautiful) beast, but it seems to be working for the series.
Following its freshman season — which starred, among others, Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario (“Baywatch,” 2017), Jake Lacy (“The Office”), Murray Bartlett (“Physical”), Connie Britton (“American Horror Story: Murder House”), Steve Zahn (“Sahara,” 2005) and Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria”) — “The White Lotus” took home 10 Primetime Emmys out of 20 nominations, an astounding accomplishment for any series. Even still, White was unsure it would be renewed — although he did already have a few ideas for future installments. In the end, White notes that Season 2 has a whole different energy than its predecessor.
“It definitely feels like ‘[The] White Lotus,’ [but] the theme is different,” White told Anthony D’Alessandro of Deadline’s Crew Call podcast. “It’s not about power dynamics; more men and women and sexual politics.”
Don’t miss a whole new host of Sicily-set antics and arguments at Taormina’s White Lotus resort when Season 2 of “The White Lotus” premieres Sunday, Oct. 30, on HBO and HBO Max. After all, who couldn’t use a week at a luxury Italian resort?