W Editors Pick Their Dream Cast for The White Lotus Season Four

Kathy Bates made an iconic guest in Titanic, and she’d make an equally memorable mark on The White Lotus as the season’s resident overworked exec who struggles to turn off her Lean In persona. —Claire Valentine, Culture Editor

Buscemi should play the beleaguered general manager with a chip on his shoulder, or a nearly pathological (and given it’s Buscemi—slightly creepy) need to meet the guests’ every last need. —C.V.

Maybe he nearly gets sucked into one last bad scheme. Maybe someone from his past resurfaces to get revenge. Perhaps he gets wrongly caught up in the season’s usual crime. Either way, he actually, genuinely, just wants to enjoy his vacation! —C.V.

We know Mike White has the acting chops, and while he may be busy writing, producing, and directing the show, why not throw another hat on and get in front of the camera? He looks like a guy that would get easily overwhelmed, right? Perfect for the role of a hotel manager slowly losing his grip on the property, staff, and guests. —Carolyn Twersky Winkler, Staff Writer

He’s been creating half a dozen collections a year for the past three decades but the luxury house he gave his life to just let him go for “fresher talent” AKA a young rapper with 100 million Instagram followers and few design collabs to his name. So yeah, Stanley needs a vacation, and someone to listen to him gripe about the state of the fashion industry. Think his role in Devil Wears Prada, but 20 years older and much more jaded —C.T.W.

Mike White has a history of bringing back much-loved comediennes with campy acting chops, so let’s give Parker Posey’s Victoria one more go-around at the White Lotus. Picture it: she’s reeling from her husband’s arrest, and she just needs a vacation. Yes, the Ratliffs might be broke, but Victoria comes from money, people! She will be just fine, and thank goodness, because as we know, she’s not meant to live an uncomfortable life. Maybe she’s brought Piper with her, who at this point is a fully formed capitalist. And, obviously, there’s a fresh new prescription of Lorazepam to get them both through the week. —C.T.W.

We need another down-bad, stressed-out antihero contemplating his childhood trauma and the meaning of life—Rick, you’re not cutting it. Cue the Nobel Prize-winning musician Lamar, playing the role of himself. He’s seeking refuge at the White Lotus while finalizing his new album, a stunning joint project with Beyoncé. He participates in daily meditation sessions with Amrita (played in the series by Shalini Peiris), is on a juice cleanse, and does 300 push-ups each morning to keep his mind clear and his pen sharp. —Maxine Wally, Senior Digital Editor

Frankly, we’d take a WL cameo from any combination of the talented members of Blackpink, the K-pop group which counts Lalisa Manobal as its main dancer, singer, and rapper. But I’m imagining this trio visiting the White Lotus as something of a sub-in for Jaclyn (Michelle Monaghan), Kate (Leslie Bibb), and Laurie (Carrie Coon), the three frenemies. If Jennie, Jisoo, and Rosé had that kind of drama on a television show—fictional or not—it would make headlines without a doubt. —M.W.

I'm calling it right now: in season four, The White Lotus should head to the slopes. Let's flip the tropical holiday on its head and put Mike White's band of merry misfits in St. Moritz, the swanky Swiss ski town. There, a floppy-haired Alexander Skarsgård plays a swindling ski bum who works at the resort—but plans to con every wealthy visitor who crosses his path. —M.W.

If The White Lotus is all about satirizing America’s clueless elite, then it’s high time we have a Manhattanite check-in. And who better for the role than Chloë Sevigny? She’s previously collaborated with White on the 2017 film Beatriz at Dinner. Imagine her playing some seen-it-all, been-everywhere, art-world powerhouse who scoffs at the restaurant menu for being too trendy, sneers at the decor, and quietly thinks she’s better than all the other white, rich people with whom she’s sharing pool space. She’s almost embarrassed to be there, but you can’t quite tell if it’s because she thinks the displays of wealth around her are morally indefensible or tragically passé. The visual pun of her packing a suitcase full of vintage black CDG, Proenza, or Phoebe Philo Celine would be worth it alone. —Kyle Munzenrieder, Senior News Editor

Twenty-two years ago, Jennifer Aniston gave one of the best performances of her career in the Mike White-written The Good Girl, and the truth is she thrives in a grounded dark comedy (see also: Nicole Holofcener’s Friends With Money). We know people gripe about the idea of the show casting a sanctified A-lister, and the long shooting schedule abroad would probably conflict with Aniston’s duties on The Morning Show, but let her swing by season four in a Sam Rockwell-esque cameo. Give her a bonkers monologue, a strange addiction, and hopefully drive people to watch The Good Girl on Hulu. —K.M.

If there’s anyone who can rival Sydney Sweeney’s tragically cool, yet terrifying teenager in season one, it’s Romy Mars. The singer, actor, and yes, daughter of Sofia Coppola and Thomas Mars, is already compulsively watchable on TikTok. Plus, there’s something about her wry sense of humor that just seems like a perfect match for Mike White’s world. —Katie Connor, Executive Digital Director

Pen15 fans deserve an update on where little Maya and Anna are now. The answer? They’re at the White Lotus for a 30th birthday trip. One of them is nursing a devastating breakup while the other is newly engaged. Can their childhood bond withstand the tensions of adulthood, or will their simmering resentments—brought to the surface at the luxury resort—break them for good? —K.C.

Please, no more snake shows. Only utterly adorable hippos with big personalities from here on out. —K.C.

As guests of the White Lotus’s ultra-exclusive villa—complete with a private yacht and personal chef—the famous friends remain mysteriously distant from the rest of the hotel’s occupants. Instead, their presence is felt through a series of tipsy prank calls to the hotel manager during which they ask such classics as, “Is your refrigerator running?” —K.C.

Yes, I know how season two ended. But options nevertheless abound: dream sequence! Hallucination! Ghost! Charon-like guide leading souls across a cold-plunge pool! I just want one more scene with our girl. —Sally Law Errico, Managing Editor

Charlotte Le Bon played a model named Chloe in season three, so why not go the extra mile and have Gen Z’s favorite runway star, Alex Consani, check into The White Lotus? —Matthew Velasco, Staff Writer, News

I have never seen an episode of The White Lotus. For whatever reason, I believe Mark Zuckerberg would do a cameo. That, I will watch. —Jensen Davis, Features Editor