'The White Lotus' season 4 — release speculation, casting rumors, possible locations and more

"The White Lotus" season 4 is coming, possibly as soon as next year.

HBO officially greenlit season 4 back in January,. When it did, it was revealed that production was tentatively planned for 2026 (h/t Variety).

But just because production could begin next year doesn't mean we'll see new episodes in 2026. And if we do, we don't know where the fourth season of the murder mystery HBO drama will take place.

So let's dive into everything we currently do know about "The White Lotus" season 4, including release speculation, possible locations, casting rumors and more.

'The White Lotus' season 4 release speculation

Pinning down when to expect "The White Lotus" season 4 isn't easy.

The show has not been consistent when it comes to release dates, with season 1 coming during the COVID-19 pandemic and season 3 delayed by the combined SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes in 2023.

However, season 2 should give us a good idea of when to expect season 4. That season didn't experience significant production obstacles and debuted on HBO and Max a mere nine months after filming began.

Based on that timeline, and a tentative 2026 start date for filming, we project "The White Lotus" season 4 will be released in late 2026.

'The White Lotus' season 4 possible locations

Predicting when "The White Lotus" season 4 will debut is a piece of cake compared to predicting where it will take place.

However, Mike White has dropped a few hints about where he wants to go for season 4.

“For the fourth season, I want to get a little bit out of the crashing waves of rocks vernacular," White told Deadline following the season 3 finale. "But there’s always more room for more murders at the White Lotus hotels.”

Earlier in the year, Deadline had reported that a Four Seasons property in Europe was being considered ("The White Lotus" and Four Seasons have an official partnership).

There were also rumors of a possible Norway shoot, which notably does not have a Four Seasons, but those seem to be officially on ice (h/t Kampanje). Further evidence against this theory is that, reportedly, Mike White "hates" the cold (h/t The Hollywood Reporter).

Officially, sources have told Deadline that "everything is on the table for next season," but HBO programming executive Francesca Orsi has indicated that "chances are somewhere in Europe."

Reportedly, location scouting won't even begin until the summer of 2025, as Mike White needs to decompress from season 3 before starting work on season 4.

'The White Lotus' season 4 casting rumors

At present, the only general casting rumor we have about "The White Lotus" is that show creator Mike White eventually wants to do an "all-star" season comprised of fan favorite characters.

However, HBO's Francesca Orsi says that this probably won't happen in season 4. "I don’t think that’ll be season 4, but that’s still on the horizon," Orsi told Deadline. "I imagine [White] is going to go beyond four. He hasn’t confirmed it, but I think he has more to say than just one more season."

In our season 3 finale coverage, we did a bit of fan casting. Here's who we'd like to see in "The White Lotus" season 4:

• Willem Dafoe
• Sadie Sink
• Mia Goth
• Oscar Isaac
• Toni Collette
• Daniel Kaluuya
• Amber Midthunder
• Giancarlo Esposito
• Drew Starkey
• David Jonsson
• Ayo Edebiri
• Daisy Edgar-Jones
• Harris Dickinson
• Will Poulter
• Ambika Mod

Again, this is just fan casting. Once we have some actual casting rumors or announcements, we'll update this section accordingly.

'The White Lotus' season 4 could have a new theme song

Yes, you read that right. In an interview with The New York Times, Emmy-winning composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer revealed he was leaving the show.

This wasn't a clean breakup either. The interview dropped just days before the season 3 finale, with de Veer declaring that Mike White "was just saying no to anything" and that after White cut the iconic "ooh-loo-loo-loos" from the season 3 theme, that they "had our last fight forever."

White appears to have been taken aback by de Veer's comments and certainly wasn't expecting to see the interview in which the composer aired their grievances to the public.

"I was thrown that he would go to the New York Times to sh*t on me and the show three days before the finale," White told Howard Stern (h/t Deadline). "It was kind of a bitch move."

So with de Veer gone for good, is the iconic theme gone too?

Well, that sort of depends on who owns the work — my assumption is HBO can do whatever they want with de Veer's composition. It'd be shocking to see them steer away from an iconic, award-winning theme completely, but it's not impossible that White will want to move on to something new for season 4.

'The White Lotus' seasons 1-3 recap — The ballad of Greg

Spoilers for "The White Lotus" beyond this point

"The White Lotus" is an anthology series, and as such, the seasons are largely disconnected. The sole connective tissue between the three seasons is that they take place at a White Lotus resort and that Greg (Jon Gries) always makes an appearance ... though in season 3, he goes by the name Gary.

In season 1, we check in at the White Lotus in Maui, and our murder victim turns out to be Armond (Murray Bartlett).

He and hotel guest Shane Patton (Jake Lacy) have an acrimonious relationship, which ultimately gets Armond fired. To cope with the loss, he gets high, breaks into Shane's room and takes a dump in Shane's luggage ... at which point Shane, who senses an intruder, accidentally stabs Armond with a pineapple knife.

But the most important character we meet this season is Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), a rich but troubled heiress who initially strikes up a friendship with the hotel's spa manager, Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), and offers to invest in Belinda's new spa.

Before she can do that, though, she meets Greg and runs off with him at the end of the season, leaving Belinda high and dry.

The honeymoon doesn't last long for Tanya and Greg though. While they do get married, their relationship is rocky in season 2, which takes place at the White Lotus in Taormina, Sicily.

Things quickly go from bad to worse for Tanya. She meets Quentin (Tom Hollander), a wealthy gay British ex-pat living in Sicily, and leaves the hotel for his villa.

Unfortunately, it turns out he's possibly someone from Greg's past and Tanya believes Greg has hired Quentin to kill her so Greg can inherit her money.

We'll never know for sure, though. While Tanya manages to initially escape and kill Quentin and some of his associates, she slips, hits her head and drowns, making her the main hotel guest death.

While there's no Tanya in season 3, Belinda does return. She has traveled to the White Lotus in Ko Samui, Thailand, to learn from the hotel's wellness team, only to discover Greg (now "Gary") is there, on the run from authorities and living off Tanya's money.

Her story has a happy ending, though. She and her son Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) negotiate with Greg/Gary to get $5 million from him for their silence, so Belinda finally has the money she was initially promised by Tanya in season 1.

Of course, this is a murder mystery drama, so while Belinda and Gary/Greg get a "happy" ending, not everyone is so lucky.

Rick Hatchett is one of the guests at the hotel this season and he sparks a shootout when he kills the hotel owner Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn) in broad daylight.

It turns out that Jim was actually Rick's father. In the fashion of a classic Greek tragedy, Rick ends the season killed by a gunshot wound while carrying the lifeless body of his lover Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) while still reeling from the realization that he just killed his father.