White Lotus Season 3 Trailer Promises More Pain, Pleasure, and Pleasure Leading to Pain (Video)

The White Lotus Season 3 trailer — in which Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Michelle Monaghan, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey and more join Mike White's exploration of American privilege abroad — finds a new flock of wealthy tourists learning hard lessons, this time in Thailand.

Previous seasons of the hit HBO show found our antiheroes traveling to White Lotus luxury resorts in Hawaii and Sicily, where they engaged in upstairs-downstairs-style class struggles as they sought to find themselves, or just unwind, with pleasantly preposterous results. The search for meaning and fulfillment, in the Mike White series, leads inevitably to death.

In the White Lotus Season 3 trailer released Monday morning, the show's thesis statement is summarized nicely by a robed spiritual leader:

"Everyone runs from pain toward pleasure," he says. "But they get there, only to find... more pain."

The new White Lotus cast also includes Sarah Catherine Hook, Lalisa Manobal, Sam Nivola, Lek Patravadi, Natasha Rothwell, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Tayme Thapthimthong, Aimee Lou Wood, Nicholas Duvernay, Arnas Fedaravi?ius, Christian Friedel, Scott Glenn, Dom Hetrakul, Julian Kostov, Charlotte Le Bon, Morgana O’Reilly, and Shalini Peiris.

The first season of The White Lotus, which premiered July 2021, earned 20 Emmy nominations across 13 categories and ten wins, the most wins of any program that year including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series.

The second season, which premiered in December 2022, scored 23 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, and five wins.

Also Read: The 13 Most Seductive Movies We've Ever Seen

The series is created, written, and directed by Mike White, and executive produced by White, David Bernad, and Mark Kamine.

What Is The White Lotus Season 3 About?

HBO's deliberately vague summary for The White Lotus Season 3 sounds an awful lot like the summaries of Seasons 1 and 2, in a new location: "The social satire is set at an exclusive Thai resort and follows the exploits of various guests and employees over the span of a week."

But the character descriptions provided by HBO, below, offer slightly more detail — without providing too much detail.

Leslie Bibb as KATE - one of three long-time friends on a girls’ trip after not having seen each other for a while 

Carrie Coon as LAURIE - one of three long-time friends on a girls’ trip after not having seen each other for a while 

Walton Goggins as RICK HATCHETT – a rugged man with a chip on his shoulder, traveling with his girlfriend Chelsea 

Sarah Catherine Hook as PIPER RATLIFF – a college senior and middle child to Timothy and Victoria Ratliff, Piper is a religion studies major 

Jason Isaacs as TIMOTHY RATLIFF – a wealthy businessman vacationing with his wife and three children 

Lalisa Manobal as MOOK – one of the health mentors for guests staying at The White Lotus 

Michelle Monaghan as JACLYN – one of three long-time friends on a girls’ trip after not having seen each other for a while 

Sam Nivola as LOCHLAN RATLIFF – Timothy and Victoria Ratliff’s youngest, a high school senior  

Lek Patravadi as SRITALA – one of the owners of The White Lotus and the visionary behind its wellness program 

Parker Posey as VICTORIA RATLIFF – vacationing with her husband and three children 

Natasha Rothwell as BELINDA – spa manager from The White Lotus in Hawaii 

Patrick Schwarzenegger as SAXON RATLIFF – the eldest son of Timothy and Victoria Ratliff, Saxon works for his father’s successful company 

Tayme Thapthimthong as GAITOK – a security guard at The White Lotus 

Aimee Lou Wood as CHELSEA – a free-spirit, traveling with her on-edge older boyfriend Rick 

The White Lotus Season 3 arrives February 16 on HBO and Max.

Main image: Morgana O'Reilly, Arnas Fedaravi?ius, Christian Friedel, Dom Hetrakul, Lalisa Manobal in The White Lotus Season 3. Photograph by Fabio Lovino/HBO.

Editor's Note: Corrects typo.