Mike White's Emmy-winning HBO show 'The White Lotus' returns Sunday night with a new season set in Sicily and a largely new cast.
What was it like filming in Sicily? That's what USA TODAY's Charles Trepany asked"The White Lotus" cast at the season 2 premiere in Los Angeles.Mike White, the comically devilish hand behind HBO'sWhen confronted with that title, White just laughs and cops to it: “My experience is, on vacation you escape one thing only to find a new set of anxieties and hard truths about yourself and those close to you.
Last season, White and his cast were at the COVID-19-shuttered Four Seasons resort on Maui, enduring a form of forced creative captivity that helped up the angst. The show opened with a mystery murder, then rewound to spotlight the troubled lives of both the hotel's staff and their well-heeled guests.
Other hotel guests include a multi-generational trio in search of their Sicilian roots; Bert Di Grasso , his son Dominic and grandson Albie . They're on an ancestral quest marred by some deep flaws and insecurities. Abraham calls the script “a gift right from heaven; a couple of pages and you realize that.” Adds Imperioli; “It’s really a testament to Mike’s imagination and skills as a writer to come up with this world and design it this way.”
“It would be easy to take down and be cynical,” says Imperioli. “But Mike makes everyone three-dimensional, and allows you to have compassion.” White was eager to show other sides of his friend’s personality. “Aubrey has this sardonic persona, but in real life, she also has a lot of colors: she’s compassionate, complicated and interesting and kind. I was excited to write something for her, to make her more accessible.”