Spoilers follow for The White Lotus Season 3, Episode 1, “Same Spirits, New Forms.”
Season 3 of The White Lotus starts with a bang. Well, several bangs. While the show is famous for dropping a dead body into the opening scene of each season, the initial moments of the newest iteration raise the stakes considerably.
The cast of the HBO show sat down with IGN as part of IGN Fan Fest 2025 to break down the opening scene and react to the return of a much-despised character.
‘Something Has Shifted in the World of The White Lotus.’
Instead of a corpse being loaded onto a plane (Season 1) or floating in the ocean (Season 2), the premiere of the Thailand-set new season sees a full-fledged shoot-out culminating with at least one lifeless body face-down in the water. It was a moment both true to previous seasons of the Mike White-helmed series and an escalation of what fans have come to expect.
Michelle Monaghan (Jaclyn): Like, holy shit, he’s done it again! I mean, honestly, this season, it is bigger. It is more action-packed. And you see that from page one. You are delving into the theme of Season 3, which is life and death, spirituality, and how light and dark coexist. And it really happens in that opening scene and it gets bigger and bolder and deeper as the season continues to roll out.
Aimee Lou Wood (Chelsea): I was so blown away. I just thought it was such a genius idea to have Belinda’s (Natasha Rothwell’s) son (Zion, played by Nicholas Duvernay) open it because Belinda, she’s the heart of Season 1, and she’s who everyone wants to win. I thought it was so clever because it instantly makes it more melancholic and human and emotional. It’s a shoot-out, but it also feels more human than ever, like the most human whilst also being the most big.
Carrie Coon (Laurie): It was clear that the storytelling had leveled up. It opened slightly differently in the first two seasons. You just see the bodies being put into an airplane or a casket. This was an action sequence with a scene and gunfire, and I was like, “Whoa. Something has shifted in the world of The White Lotus.”
Parker Posey (Victoria) It’s so much fun to read writing that’s really inhabited. So it was like, I got the coffee and the tea out (and) I just sat down and I just barreled through it. By the last episode, I was so adrenalized. It was like I was so taken with the story that I forgot who died. I didn’t remember until I went to set.
Sarah Catherine Hook (Piper): (White) went the action-packed route because (in) the first season it was just a conversation, and then the second season was a dead body floating in the water. But (with the shoot-out) immediately in my head I was like, “Okay, this is already going to be an action-packed season.”
Patrick Schwarzenegger (Saxon): Mike continues to push the envelope of what he wants to do with each and every season. Obviously this season is completely different than the past, and that involves the opening sequence. I thought that it was amazing how he showcased the suspense of it all. And obviously with the gunshots, I mean, it’s very relevant to something that would happen today. But I thought it was great and I think that there’s more than a body potentially.
Jason Isaacs (Tim): He’s a master storyteller. It reminds me of Dickens. Dickens used to be serialized in the newspaper, so he knew that the first chapter and then maybe the first paragraph needs to throw a hook right into the audience’s imagination. And that’s what he’s done. He does it brilliantly and then he reels you in really slowly. And then when the fish gets close, you’re trapped.
Watson Goggins (Rick): Reading the first few pages, you notice the difference. There’s not a body, there’s a shoot-out. I think I stopped after the first three pages and thought, “I can’t believe I’m reading the first episode of Season 3 of The White Lotus.” It’s like reading a Tarantino script. You realize that you’re in rarefied air.
‘I Was Hoping the Dead Body Would Be Me.’
Each season of The White Lotus presents a central mystery: Who died? The cast of Season 3 was both excited and fearful that the body we see in the premiere might be their own.
Leslie Bibb (Kate): If you’re the dead body, you’re going to have a great story. If you’re not the dead body, you know that maybe there’s a possibility, if Mike likes you and he feels moved, you could come back for a second season. We were reading some (fan questions and) Jason’s like, “Why is everybody assuming my character’s being killed?” And I said, “It’s a compliment. You’re like Drew Barrymore in Scream.”
Jason Isaacs: I figured that whoever it was wasn’t going to die until the end. So if it was me, that would be fine. I just wanted to go on Mike’s ride. It was such a joy.
Sam Nivola (Lochlan): I feel like I was sort of hoping the dead body would be me, and maybe it is! You don’t know. But to be honest, I was like, “I don’t really care.” I’m going to read all these scripts in one sitting and I will find out in a few hours. I was just along for the ride.
Aimee Lou Wood: I think everyone goes through the script. You’re like, “Oh my God!”
Michelle Monaghan: You don’t know. And as soon as we got cast, we received all eight episodes in our inbox. And the whole time, I’m just thinking, “This is insane.” And you have no idea which direction it’s going.
Walton Goggins: Of course, that is a consideration, right? No one knows if it’s going to be them. When you set out to read these scripts, it’s like playing a game of Clue: what’s the instrument and how does it happen and is it happening to me?
‘He’s a Character You Love to Hate.’
A huge surprise from Episode 1 is the return of Greg (John Gries), who first appeared in Season 1 and arranged for the murder of his wife and fan-favorite character Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) in Season 2. The cast talked about his surprising return.
Leslie Bibb: It’s so exciting. In the script it just says “a bald man walks down.” That’s when he sees Sarah Catherine. And I remember being like, “I wonder why Mike’s talking about that.” And then it came back and I was like, “Oh my God, this guy’s in all three (seasons).”
Carrie Coon: (He’s) the luckiest actor. He wasn’t necessarily going to be the throughline I remember, but it ties into Belinda. That was actually the part about the Greg storyline that was most exciting to me was to see what happens to Belinda.
Sarah Catherine Hook: I was like, “Oh my God, (White is) so smart to keep (the story of) Tanya alive.” I feel like she is in this season with us. And I think that fans of the show, including myself, had some worries about the face of The White Lotus being killed off. So I was so relieved and so happy and just so impressed that he was able to pull it off so beautifully. And I think that’s going to be a very, very enticing story for the audience.
Sam Nivola: I was like, “Why is he here? What is going on?” I was definitely scared. “Is he going to kill Belinda?” I think it’s really smart the way that (White) ties these three seasons together. I think that the way he sort of came up with this thing is like a mathematician. It’s just the perfect amount of connectivity without marrying it to the previous seasons.
Patrick Schwarzenegger: Once I started to read as a fan of the show, I was like, “Okay, that’s a great ending of the pilot.” Something to keep new people interested.
Jason Isaacs: Michael Powell, the great British filmmaker, used to talk about planting bombs. And Mike sets the story out at a perfect pace and you think not much seems to be happening. “Wait a second. That is the guy that killed his wife. That’s not going to end well.” He just knows exactly how to pique your interest just a little bit and pick up the pace.
Michelle Monaghan: He’s a character you love to hate. John is the exact opposite of Greg. It’s crazy to me. He’s the best person, the best person on the planet. (But) that storyline, there’s some unfinished business there that Belinda needs to take care of. And I think that audiences are going to be so excited and so happy that she has a chance at redemption.
Aimee Lou Wood: That full circle is so satisfying.
For more from the cast of The White Lotus Season 3, be sure to catch IGN Fan Fest February 24-28 across IGN platforms.
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