The White Lotus is returning for another season on HBO.
On Tuesday, the cable network announced that it has renewed the dark comedy series for season 2 ahead of its season 1 finale next Sunday.
The season renewal comes as a surprise to many as The White Lotus creator Mike White originally conceived the show as a limited series. Though HBO originally marketed The White Lotus as such, the show’s critical acclaim and strong ratings pushed the network to convince White to find a way to continue the series.
Starring an ensemble cast with the likes of Murray Bartlett, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, and Fred Hechinger, the six-episode season 1 of The White Lotus follows the vacations of various hotel guests over the span of a week as they relax and rejuvenate in paradise. But with each passing day, a darker complexity emerges in these picture-perfect travelers, the hotel’s cheerful employees, and the idyllic locale itself.
Though the show’s freshman run is set in the island of Hawaii, the show’s sophomore run will take place in a different hotel destination. As White takes an anthology-style approach with the future of the series, The White Lotus season 2 will also feature a brand-new cast and a completely different story.
“Mike has once again delivered a quintessential HBO show, and it’s the talk of the town,” said HBO Programming Executive Vice President Francesca Orsi of The White Lotus and White, who also created the TV shows Pasadena, Cracking Up, and Enlightened. “We were thrilled to hear where he wanted to go next, after closing this epic chapter in Hawaii, and can’t wait to keep following him wherever he takes us.”
In addition to creating The White Lotus, White wrote and directed all six episodes of the show’s first season first season. He also serves as an executive producer on the series, along with David Bernard and Nick Hall.
The White Lotus season 1 finale, titled Departures, airs at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 15th on HBO.