The White Lotus's Natasha Rothwell has rejected the view that her character Belinda did to Pornchai what Tanya did to her in the comedy-drama's debut season.
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Jennifer Coolidge's wealthy heiress initially promised the spa manager that she would give her the financial backing to set up her own business, only to then rescind that offer because it would mean falling back into toxic behaviour patterns.
And when Tanya's former husband Greg/Gary (he might be called neither, for all we know) agreed to give Belinda $5 million in exchange for her silence over his involvement in his ex-wife's murder, she decided that she could no longer go into business with her colleague and lover Pornchai, something they had discussed earlier in the season.
"It's so funny, I'm reading all of these people who are just like, 'She did Pornchai dirty like Tanya did her dirty.' And I'm like, 'Actually no,'" Rothwell told RadioTimes.com.
"First of all, she didn't promise him anything. Like, Tanya promised her something, so she didn't break a promise. But also, it's just like, again, she needs to get her bearings. She needs to settle in life. I think that's her first thought, right?
"You see her do it and I think that's a very kind of surface interpretation. But sitting with it, I think folks will realise there were no promises made or broken, that she wants to take a beat to really understand.
"And never say never. You know what I mean? I think that her connection to him was real."
Natasha Rothwell in The White Lotus season 3. HBO
Surprisingly, Rothwell also said that she didn't pick up on the similarity between Belinda's decision to reject Pornchai's offer and Tanya's decision to leave the spa manager in the lurch.
"I didn’t, which is so crazy," she said. "And [creator] Mike [White], in an interview, it was just before the finale came out, he had mentioned... or after I had read, I think it was on set, he was like, ‘Oh yeah, one of the first pieces of this that I figured out was Belinda was going to do to Pornchai what Tanya did to her.'
"And I didn't even see it on the page. It didn't even dawn on me because I'm very much a Libra so I was just like, 'She didn't promise anything.' Like, I know that we wanted her to ride off into the sunset with him, but she didn't really promise anything."
Dom Hetrakul stars in The White Lotus season 3. HBO
With season 3 of White's acclaimed series now done and dusted, it's all eyes on season 4, which could "get a little bit out of the crashing waves of rocks vernacular", he told Deadline.
And course, "there’s always more room for more murders at the White Lotus hotels", he teased.
But where will it be set? White reportedly hates the cold, so it seems unlikely we'll be heading to a luxury ski resort, which numerous fans have been calling for.
Instead, there have been rumblings of another European destination following season 2's Sicilian setting, with the French Riviera being teased.
Madrid, Milan, Lisbon and Paris are also home to other Four Seasons hotels – a franchise the shows works closely with – and there's also a Four Seasons estate in Hampshire, if White wanted to turn his attention to the UK.
The White Lotus seasons 1-3 are available on Sky Atlantic and NOW.
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Morgan Cormack is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering everything drama-related on TV and streaming. She previously worked at Stylist as an Entertainment Writer. Alongside her past work in content marketing and as a freelancer, she possesses a BA in English Literature.
Abby Robinson is the Drama Editor for Radio Times, covering TV drama and comedy titles. She previously worked at Digital Spy as a TV writer, and as a content writer at Mumsnet. She possesses a postgraduate diploma and a degree in English Studies.
