When The White Lotus Season 3 hits HBO with a mysterious murder or two — which won’t be until 2025 sadly — it will introduce a mostly new cast with at least one returning star in the form of Natasha Rothwell. One star whose return is 99% impossible would be Jennifer Coolidge, whose boozy talker Tanya faced a fatal plunge in the question-provoking Season 2 finale. And it sounds like the actress is rather amusingly displeased with being removed from creator Mike White’s vision.
Speaking with Today about her new Discover ad that will be airing during the Super Bowl, the Best In Show vet got comedically candid when addressing the fact that she’s not currently filming for Season 3 with the rest of the cast. In her words:
I’m jealous of everyone that’s going. I just want to stress I’m not a good sport about it, but there’s nothing I can do. When they kill you, you have to accept it. Because it means they’re not calling for your costume sizes or anything. It’s over! I have to get another thing. I have to make another thing happen, I guess.
Though I’m sure it’s nice to not get called in for costume fittings, Jennifer Coolidge was one of the best-dressed actors in all of TV throughout 2022, with Tanya rocking a seemingly endless line of brightly colored dresses and accessories. (Rewatch them all with a Max subscription.) So for all that trying out clothes sucks, there’s hopefully a certain amount of joy to be had in looking like a million dollars in the million-dollar settings The White Lotus frequents.
Beyond the costuming, Coolidge is understandably jealous of all the stars who have been aligned for the third season, which is shifting to Thailand this time around. The cast that she’s envious of includes such stars as Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, Walton Goggins, Patrick Schwarzenegger and Michelle Monaghan, to name a few. It also includes Parker Posey, Coolidge’s occasional co-star from various Christopher Guest movies. It’s a shame we won’t get to see that connection on the small screen.
But could we? For all that it seems clear as crystal that Tanya isn’t willing or able to make it to this particular resort, fans apparently still think it’s a possibility, and are quick to ask her if it’s happening. Here’s how she put it:
People are asking me if I’m in it. I can honestly say, to this moment, no one has even mentioned it to me. I think I’m dead. I think I’m dead right now and may be dead forever.
I guess I get why people keep asking, when she’s saying things like “I think I’m dead,” which is a soft-shoed indicator that Mike White never wrote “Tanya is deceased” or anything so straightforward in the Season 2 finale script. (That, or Jennifer Coolidge just skipped that part.) But even if that ending was all a ruse, and Tanya miraculously survived that ordeal, surely she wouldn’t make another White Lotus hotel one of her next vacation spots, right?
The first two seasons of The White Lotus are streaming on Max, with hopefully more news coming soon about the third season.
