New And Familiar Faces Dive Into The Sicilian Adventures Of ‘The White Lotus’ Season Two

After taking home 10 Emmys last month for its first season, the critically-acclaimed limited series The White Lotus returns for season two tonight on HBO and HBO Max. Yes, it takes place in the same universe as its predecessor, but with its fresh storylines, a rather complex group of new characters and occurring on an entirely different continent this time around in Italy, the second season sets out to be its own captivating mess and delivers in the very best way possible.

Following her standout performance in season one as the zany and rich heiress Tanya McQuoid, recent Emmy winner Jennifer Coolidge is back for seconds! So, what was the initial conversation like between Coolidge and her fellow Emmy-winning The White Lotus creator/writer/director Mike White in getting her reprise her role for season two?

Coolidge reveals to me, “Mike just said ‘You know Jennifer, I want to go on with the story with Tanya.’ He goes, ‘I just want you to know you’re over the grief of your mother. You have sort of made progress and moved on from that and I’d like to take the next step of the relationship with Greg (another returning performance by Jon Gries) and see where that goes in the story.’ I was like ‘Okay.’ He goes, ‘We’re going to shoot in Sicily.’ I was thrilled getting to tell the story over there.”

Gries had a similar conversation with White after Coolidge signed on for season two, saying, “I got a text from Mike that just said ‘Are you free in May?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ He said, ‘I’m not going to write this part if you’re not free.’ I said, ‘No, I’ll be there – wherever, anytime, anywhere.’ He goes, ‘Okay, May – Sicily.’ I couldn’t answer. I didn’t know what to write back. Excited!”

With season two set at The White Lotus resort in the southern region of Italy (season one was set at another fictional The White Lotus resort in Hawaii), I wondered what the Italian-born actresses this season Sabrina Impacciatore, Simona Tabasco and Beatrice Grannò wanted to bring to their roles, playing the local characters surrounded by this group of American tourist characters.

Impacciatore, who plays the stern resort manager Valentina, says, “About Valentina’s character – at first, I didn’t understand right away the direction that Mike [White] wanted to explore with me because I had to be very tough, very direct. So, he told me about a holiday he had in Europe where he was treated this way because American people are always so polite, so gentle. So, I was feeling also a bit embarrassed to represent Italy in this rough way, but then that was the characteristic of the character. I felt a responsibility to somehow represent my country and I still feel the responsibility.”

Grannò, who plays aspiring singer Mia in this new season, says, “Well, I think there’s something about Italian people. They’re very like straightforward, like they are very loud. If somebody doesn’t understand Italian, they would just repeat it louder. That’s how we are. For my character, I tried to bring that kind of comedy of it – of like somebody that wants to be understood.”

Tabasco plays Lucia, Mia’s best friend and someone who stirs up quite a bit trouble for several of the American guests. She says of representing her native country of Italy with her performance, “Lucia, when I read her character, I thought that she had so much in her and there was so much to portray that I was a little frightened about how that was going to go, but then I trusted Mike [White] and the script and it all flowed and I think it’s very Italian. Very truthful.”

The praise of The White Lotus creator Mike White extends to even more of the season two cast, including Meghann Fahy, who plays the sweet and wealthy American tourist Daphne. Fahy tells me how this whole The White Lotus experience has been different from other productions she has worked on before, giving a large amount of credit to White.

“I’ve never worked with somebody who wrote every single episode and directed every single episode,” continues Fahy. “It’s a unique experience, I think, just on that front. Beyond that, the words are so strong that it just feels good to do the scenes because the flow is so crystal clear, and he creates this really great environment where you feel like he’s leading you because he knows exactly what he wants, but also tons of work to play – a lot of freedom. I think he puts a lot of trust in his actors and that feels really nice.”

Actor Theo James plays Fahy’s on-screen husband Cameron, a rich and egotistical American playboy businessman with a wandering eye for the local Italian women. When I asked James if Mike White set a tone early on for the cast & crew that The White Lotus season two would not be compared to the success nor the storytelling of season one, he says, “No, he was never specific as that because in a good way, he’s very confident about the stories he’s telling. He’s not worried about how things will be perceived or not perceived. I think he has a very clear idea. This is exactly his ballpark when he plays with social satire – social and sexual politics. He’s very specific of what he wants to do – not worried about comparisons in a way. Because we were in Italy, it felt different and the themes are different, so we never had that shadow looming over us.”

Another newcomer this season is Aubrey Plaza as Harper, whose husband Ethan (played by Will Sharpe) is old college friends with Cameron. Coming from a beloved comedy background on the popular television series Parks and Recreation and films like Ingrid Goes West, I asked Plaza how her The White Lotus character is different from previous roles many of us have come to know from her.

Plaza says, “Well first things first, they’ve come into a lot of money, Harper and Ethan, so I get to wear some fancy clothes. I get to wear some very fancy jewelry. That was really fun because normally I play characters that can’t afford anything. I play a totally different character. I play a lawyer, I play a married woman for a long time – seven, eight years – no kids and just kind of dealing with some grown-up stuff. So, it was definitely interesting.”

I followed up by asking Plaza and Sharpe if they had a favorite part of filming on-location in Sicily. Sharpe responds, “I think my favorite part was just being near the ocean. I love the ocean.” Plaza continues, “Me too. Will and I bonded over the ocean for sure. It felt so magical to go out every morning and see the vast blue ocean but also the food. The food! The wine! It was so fun to just not have that many options, you know, and just kind of know ‘Alright, I’m just going to have pasta again today, twice a day, every day. I don’t care!’ It’s just a different mindset.”

Two of the youngest actors added this season are Adam DiMarco and Haley Lu Richardson. DiMarco plays Albie, the youngest of three generations of Italian-American men traveling together to Sicily to learn more about their family’s history. Richardson plays Portia, who is traveling with Coolidge’s character Tanya as her unhappy assistant. Playing these twenty-something, Gen Z characters who are seemingly looking for young love (or possibly lust) during their stay in Italy, I asked DiMarco and Richardson what makes their story arc in season two so unique.

DiMarco says of Albie and Portia, “I think it’s cool that our characters met the old-fashioned way. Not on an app or something – just sitting right there, so I might as well talk to you! That’s how they used to do it, or so I’m told. I think that’s cute and romantic in a way.”

Being arguably the actor with the most scenes beside Coolidge in season two, I was curious how Richardson looks back on her The White Lotus filming experience when acting alongside Coolidge.

Richardson responds, “It was amazing. It was literally what you would hope for and expect. She’s crazy in all the best ways, like she really is! Just watching her be that free with the scenes. Her and Mike’s kind of way of doing – she will start going off on a tangent and I’ll just be like trying to keep up and then Mike will be there with her from afar, shooting out alternate lines and Jennifer will just get it or not get it. It’s so fun and unique to watch and reminded me of the play part that’s so important about the whole acting thing.”

On this Sicilian adventure, DiMarco’s character Albie is accompanied by his father Dominic (played by celebrated Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli) and the elderly patriarch of their family Bert (played by longtime Hollywood actor F. Murray Abraham). With both of these actors having an admired legacy in Hollywood, I wondered what it was about The White Lotus season two scripts that made them want to come onboard.

Imperioli reveals first, “I didn’t know the storylines – I’ll be honest with you because they weren’t giving out the whole scripts. I had a couple of little scenes, but when I knew they were interested, I went and watched season one, which I hadn’t seen. I had heard great things by people whose opinions I respected who loved it. When I watched season one, I knew why. Shooting in Sicily was not a deterrent either.”

Abraham continues about the writing in season two, “It’s just a good piece of work man. They don’t come along that often. It’s just so much humor and so much humanity. There is something more than the average stuff you have to watch. I think it’s rewarding to watch it, don’t you think as an audience? Because I felt that way as an actor.”

Imperioli wrapped up our conversation by dissecting Mike White’s expanding The White Lotus vision as we arrive at these seven episodes ahead for season two. “He tapped into some very universal, timeless themes with this. Generational stuff, family stuff, roles – men and women, masculine and feminine. I think they’re very resonate. There’s a lot about sexuality, sensuality. There’s a broader canvas, a bigger canvas this season because they couldn’t really leave the hotel when they shot season one. It was a Covid bubble and we’re in Sicily [for season two] and there’s other really amazingly beautiful towns and cities to go to and we do. So, it’s a little bit different than the first season, in a good way, I think.”