The White Lotus Season 2 ended the way it began:

With a number of dead bodies out at sea in Italy.

On Sunday night’s finale, however, we learned the identity of those bodies.

SPOILER ALERT:

Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya, having figured out the plot between estranged husband Greg and allegedly wealthy new friend Quentin, took a gun from the latter’s yacht and shot nearly everyone on board dead… and then fell to her own death while trying to escape into a dingy.

Yes, the only returning cast member on Season 2 will NOT appear on Season 3.

But there will be a Season 3 of The White Lotus, as confirmed weeks ago by HBO.

Could it include a different familiar face from Season 1? Such as Connie Britton?

“He wanted me to be in the second season, and there was an idea that I loved for the character,” the actress, who played the high-powered Nicole, previously told us creator Mike White Deadline/.

“Our intention is to do it in the third season. A piece of casting didn’t work in the second season and we’re hoping to [do] that in the third season.

“I would love to see a spin-off on every character in that show.”

In the post-finale interview White dropped a bit of a hint about this concept, calling the third season “a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality.”

As for where White and his fellow cast and crew will be checking in on Season 3, he’s plotting a continental shift.

As he also told Deadline earlier this year:

“You know, we did Europe, and maybe Asia, something crazy like that, that would be fun.”

No premiere date has been set for The White Lotus Season 3, but we’re likely looking at late 2023 — at the earliest.

White only finished editing this season “10 days ago,” he recently told Katie Couric on her podcast.

“I need to reboot a little bit,” White told the reporter, adding:

“I don’t have a lot of gas in the tank. So I need to figure out how to unplug and refresh or something.”

In the “Unpacking S2 E7” clip that aired at the end of the Season 2 finale, the executive producer also hinted that the Season 3 theme may have already been established.

“The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex,” White said.

“I think the third season would be maybe a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality. It feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus.”

Via this same segment, White unpacked Tanya’s stunning death in the finale, stating on air:

“In the end of last season, Tanya is sitting with Greg in the last episode and he’s talking about his health issues. And she says, ‘I’ve had every kind of treatment over the years, death is the last immersive experience I haven’t tried.’

“I was thinking, it’d be so fun to bring Tanya back because she’s such a great character, but maybe that’s the journey for her, a journey to death.

“Not that I really wanted to kill Tanya because I love her as a character and obviously love Jennifer.

“But I just felt like, we’re going to Italy, she’s such a diva — a larger than life female archetype — it felt like we could devise our own operatic conclusion to Tanya’s life and her story.”

Is the story totally over, though? Or could it be a springboard toward Season 3?

“It’s possible that Portia [Haley Lu Richardson] is scared enough to just leave it alone.

“But the fact that all of those guys die on the boat, it feels like there’s gotta be somebody who’s gonna track it down to Greg,” he teased.

“But maybe you’ll have to wait to find out what happens.”

The White Lotus Season 3: Where to Next? And Who Might Return?!? was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .