The White Lotus Season 2 Finale Just Brought In Huge Numbers
The drama at the White Lotus resort in Sicily came to an end on Sunday night with the season 2 finale, and Deadline reports that it garnered more viewers than ever before. The White Lotus more than doubled its viewers for the resolution of the second season, bringing in 4.9 million viewers, as the finale to season 1 only saw 1.9 million viewers and the premiere of season 2 had 1.5 million. The show has been a critically acclaimed hit that has been drawing in a larger audience as it progresses.
The first season of The White Lotus followed a group of well-to-do vacationers in Hawaii as they spend a week at the paradise resort. It follows characters like Rachel, a newlywed who is seeing the dark side of her new husband Shane; Mark, who is awaiting some very important news about his health; Armond, the harried hotel manager attempting to please some very entitled and demanding guests; and Tanya, a wealthy but troubled heiress whose mother has just passed. Tanya, played by Jennifer Coolidge, is the only character who made the transition to The White Lotus season 2.
In the second season’s Sicilian setting, Tanya finds herself running with a band of fellow heirs while new guests navigate their dramas. Prostitute Mia wants to become a singer while hotel manager Valentina dreams of the perfect woman; married couple Harper and Ethan travel with Ethan’s college chum Cam and his wife Daphne; and the womanizing Di Grasso men look for their roots among the mountains and villas of the island. The White Lotus season 2 packed in all the drama and dark comedy of its predecessor and carried on the legacy left behind by the first season.
The White Lotus was supposed to be a limited six-episode series but gained so much acclaim that HBO renewed it for season 2 a few months later. Season 3 was announced a few weeks ago, and will be likewise taking place in a new resort in a fictionalized version of the White Lotus chain. Series creator Mike White, who also wrote and appeared in the Jack Black movie School of Rock and competed in Season 37 of Survivor, has hinted that this third season will take place in Asia and delve into Eastern spirituality.
White Lotus season 2 has been so successful that it has introduced new viewers to the first season. HBO reports that season 1 has seen its highest viewership since that season finale aired, on top of picking up a bigger following in delayed viewing on its streaming platforms. Delayed viewing refers to the views earned after the show’s initial airing in its television timeslot.
Even though the show had different casts in each of its seasons, the themes and circumstances remain the same, which is what viewers want to see. One has to be wealthy to stay in a White Lotus resort in the world the show portrays, and both season 1 and season 2 feature these characters on vacation, where what happens at the White Lotus is supposed to stay at the White Lotus after they leave. Fortunately for audiences, what happens to vacationers at the White Lotus is there for us to peek upon like the proverbial fly on the wall, and it’s clear viewers like what they see.
