Secrets From ‘The White Lotus’ After the Season 3 Finale: ‘RHONY’ Inspo, Real Snakes and More!

‘Real Housewives’ Vibes

Many fans suspect that the show’s creator, Mike White — an avowed Bravo fan — based the three girlfriends’ storyline on a Real Housewives getaway, specifically the NYC ladies’ Season 5 trip to St. Barts, when Luann de Lesseps was accused of hooking up with a “pirate,” which she has long denied. (Sounds a lot like Michelle Monaghan’s Jaclyn.) And Leslie Bibb told Andy Cohen she watched “a lot of” RHOBH and RHOC “before scenes,” admitting “maybe there’s a little Heather Dubrow” in her conservative Texan character, Kate.

The Snakes in ‘White Lotus’ Were Real

When a stoned Rick released all those snakes, his girlfriend almost died. In real life, it was Walton Goggins who got bit.

“I wish I could have been cool,” the actor, who is terrified of the reptiles, told Jimmy Kimmel, admitting that he screamed instead. Luckily, the snake wasn’t venomous.

A Moo Deng and ‘White Lotus’ Crossover

“I was so stoked,” Sam Nivola (who plays Lachlan Ratliff) said on HBO’s Instagram video of meeting the famous baby hippo at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand, alongside his on-screen sister, Sarah Catherine Hook, who joined him in gushing over the viral sensation.

More Bravo Inspiration

Jason Isaacs has said he channeled Southern Charm’s Thomas Ravenel to find his accent as the head of the Durham, North Carolina-based Ratliffs, while his on-screen wife, Mississippi-bred Parker Posey, told Variety she found inspiration for her “snotty affect” in 1980’s The Preppy Handbook and James Spader, who’s played his share of “snob” characters.

Hints for ‘White Lotus’ Season 4?

Spoiler alert! A Norwegian TV station recently reported that the Scandinavian country was briefly considered for filming the next season (though they don’t have a Four Seasons resort, which has doubled for the titular chain in all three seasons).

HBO exec Francesca Orsi later told Deadline that “chances are” the next installment would be set “somewhere in Europe.” Like maybe Geneva, Switzerland? Mike told NPR in 2022 that he wanted one season’s theme to be “power” — and the financial hub would certainly be a fitting setting.