‘White Lotus’ Season 4 Location Revealed? All the Details
A killer new cast is checking into The White Lotus.
Following in the footsteps of Sydney Sweeney, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Jennifer Coolidge, the HBO satire is set to welcome a fresh set of characters for season four—and they're bringing the nostalgia.
Hunger Games alum Alexander Ludwig and Aly & AJ singer AJ Michalka have officially joined the cast, HBO confirmed Dec. 19.
While AJ, 34, got her start on Disney Channel, she went on to star in The Lovely Bones, The Goldbergs and, most recently, The Masked Singer—during which she placed third as Strawberry Shortcake in 2024.
As for Alexander, the 33-year-old had a long-running role as Bjorn Lothbrok on Vikings for six years. And, like AJ, he too has musical talents, releasing his debut country album Highway 99 in 2022.
Details on their White Lotus roles haven't been shared.
In addition to welcoming new faces, the anthology series will also embrace an all-new locale, continuing the trend of setting each season at a fictional hotel in a different location. After following storylines in Hawaii during season one, Italy for season two and Thailand for season three, the next installment will focus on a luxury resort in France, as series alum Parker Posey confirmed to E! News in September.
And while the Mike White-led dramedy’s incoming stars will be surrounded by lavish amenities during filming, no one will be getting special treatment when it comes to compensation. In June, season three star Jason Isaacs confirmed that each actor receives roughly $40,000 per episode, which he admitted was not a hefty payday.
“Generally actors don’t talk about pay in public because it’s ridiculously disproportionate to what we do—putting on makeup and funny voices—and just upsets the public,” he told Variety at the time. “But compared to what people normally get paid for big television shows, that’s a very low price.”
Still, the team behind the Emmy-winning franchise explained that giving their performers a level playing field salary-wise is a way to keep the focus on making great TV.
“Everyone is treated the same on White Lotus,” producer David Bernard told The Hollywood Reporter in April. “They get paid the same, and we do alphabetical billing, so you’re getting people who want to do the project for the right reasons.”
Similarly, casting director Meredith Tucker noted that the strategy makes luring the best talent for the murder-mystery series “so much easier.”
“You tell people this is what it is,” she told THR. “And some won’t do it—and honestly, you can’t hold it against people who need to make a living. Our series regulars are pretty much doing this for scale.”
Dying to check in early? Keep reading for everything we know so far about The White Lotus season four…
Fabio Lovino/HBO
When will the fourth season of The White Lotus premiere?
HBO officially renewed The White Lotus for a fourth season in January 2025, weeks before the third season premiered and after series creator Mike White pitched ideas for another go-round of moneyed murder and mayhem.
"Mike, obviously—if he wants to move forward and do the four seasons—he will do the fourth season," HBO CEO Casey Bloys told reporters in November.
Production on season four will likely kick off in 2026, according to Variety.
Fabio Lovino/HBO
Where will The White Lotus' fourth season take place?
There have been reports that the fourth season is heading to France, with series alum Parker Posey confirming the locale to E! News in September.
White and fellow producers had been dropping hints, too.
"We're going on some locations scouting in the next couple of weeks, so we'll know soon," executive vice president of HBO Programming Francesca Orsi told Deadline in February. "I can’t really say where we’re going to land but chances are somewhere in Europe."
Chances, she emphasized.
There are "some countries on the map that we talked about," Orsi added, "but nothing to report on until they actually go locations scouting."
White said in an interview for HBO that ran after the April 6 season three finale that he was looking to "get a little bit out of the 'crashing waves against rocks' vernacular" for next season.
"But," he added, "there's always room for more murders at the White Lotus hotels."
White also mentioned Australia as a dream destination while he was in Sydney at the Vivid Festival in June 2023.
“It would be so fun," he said. "Obviously, there’s a huge wealth of talent here and the beauty is inarguable, so it feels like it checks all the boxes.”
Really, the possibilities are endless, almost: A body in the snow has yet to be a plot point on the series, but a fancy ski resort may not be in the cards. Producer David Bernad told The Guardian in February, "Mike doesn't like the cold."
Which actors will be in The White Lotus season four?
The Hunger Games alum Alexander Ludwig and Aly & AJ singer AJ Michalk officially joined the cast, HBO confirmed in December 2025. And it's possible their characters may have some musical talents, since both stars have released their own albums before.
Courtesy of HBO
The White Lotus Theme Song May Sound Different in Season 4
Cristóbal Tapia de Veer, the Emmy-winning composer behind the White Lotus title themes, will not be back for season four, citing creative disagreements with White dating back to the show's first season.
"It's kind of weird right now because I announced to the team a few months ago that I was not coming back, that I was leaving," Tapia de Veer told the New York Times in an interview published April 2. "I didn’t tell Mike for various reasons; I wanted to tell him just at the end for the shock and whatever." (White did find out before season's end, he said.)
As for the instantly catchy theme music he wrote for season one (that also opened season two), "You see it afterward, and it’s a success," Tapia de Veer said, "but to get there is quite the struggle" because White "didn't want the theme."
And no one told him to retool the opener for season three, he said, but he did—much to fans' loud consternation.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
"When that came out, I had TMZ calling me, even people from England and from France, because they wanted some kind of statement about the theme," Tapia de Veer said. "People are furious about the change of the theme, and I thought that was interesting. I texted the producer and I told him that it would be great to, at some point, give them the longer version with the ooh-loo-loo-loos, because people will explode if they realize that it was going there anyway. He thought it was a good idea. But then Mike cut that—he wasn’t happy about that."
The composer added, "I mean, at that point, we already had our last fight forever, I think. So he was just saying no to anything."
On The Howard Stern Show April 8, White called it a "b--ch" move" for Tapia de Veer to air his grievances like that.
"I honestly don't know what happened," White said, "except now I'm reading his interviews because he decides to do some PR campaign about him leaving the show. I just don't think he respected me."
They "never really even fought," the producer continued. "He says we feuded...It was basically me giving him notes."
Their collaboration "did work" during the first two seasons, White said, because they shared ideas. By season three, Tapia de Veer "didn't want to go through the process with me, he didn't want to get notes from me, he didn't want to go to sessions."
And, White added, "He's definitely making a big deal out of just a creative difference."
Fabio Lovino/HBO
Will Gary Return for Season 4 of The White Lotus?
White was pleasantly shocked that Jon Gries, who played Tanya's mysterious suitor Greg in season one and her calculating husband in season two, agreed to come back to play nefarious widower Gary in season three. But Gries said Gary's (a.k.a. Greg's) ship has sailed, as far as he knows.
However, that's what he thought last time.
"I don’t think [I'm coming back], but I don’t know so," he told The Hollywood Reporter after season three ended with Gary's secret safe for now. "All I can say is, every time I leave, I assume it’s over."
And yet despite the appeal of having all new guests at each resort—"I can burn down the house at the end of every season," White told The New Yorker, "and start building again”—the show has proved that, if you aren't dead...
"There’s no trying to predict anything Mike White does," Gries admitted to THR. "I never presumed I’d be in season two. Same for season three. Everything he does has an element of surprise to it. Yes, I would love to come back. But does the book on Greg seem like it’s complete? I can’t tell you."
Fabio Lovino/HBO
Will The White Lotus Find Some Way for Tanya to Come Back?
Short of a White Lotus prequel or multiverse situation, there's really no vehicle for Jennifer Coolidge's Tanya to return except in a flashback or dream sequence. But the hope has remained ever since her unfortunate tumble from a yacht in the season two finale that revealed her to be the premiere's mystery body after being the only returning character from season one.
White has admitted to missing Coolidge's presence, but hasn't questioned his decision to kill off the well-intentioned but gullible and obscenely wealthy Tanya.
"He sort of sticks to his guns," Coolidge said of White on E! News in January 2023 after the season two finale. "He's an amazing friend, but I think he made his decision. He wanted a big, dramatic, Italian, you know, operatic ending for White Lotus 2, and he wanted to sacrifice Tanya."
Confirming she definitely wouldn't be showing up in Thailand for season three, she told The New Yorker, "I don't think Tanya's ever coming back, so I have to live with it."
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