Yahoo Movies Where season 1 of The White Lotus was filmed
Though it may have flown slightly under the radar during its initial 2021 release, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone today who hasn't heard of HBO Max's The White Lotus. Mike White's sharp, satirical dramedy has the world firmly in its bitingly-written, beautifully-shot clutches thanks to a stunning first season, which nabbed it five statues at last year's Emmys.
Though it's now an anthology with season two set in Sicily, the first installment features an all-star cast of vacationers and resort staff exchanging bickers and barbs at the fictitious White Lotus Resort — a high-end, full-service hotel located in Hawaii. The story in the show's first season is captivating slow-burn class satire that is wildly funny and socially prescient even as it careens towards sure doom.
White — who wrote and directed every episode himself without the help of a writers' room — is palpably dedicated to the stories he weaves with a special emphasis on the surroundings. The idyllic yet ominous resorts characterize both last season's tropical adventures and the current season's Italian exploits, with the settings clearly characters in themselves. So, where was that elevated beach resort that drew us in at the onset?
Here are some of the (literally and figuratively) breathtaking locations from season 1 of The White Lotus.
The White Lotus Resort (Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Kihei, HI)
Most of the action in season one took place in and around the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, located on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Filmed in 2020, when COVID-19 precautions were especially stringent, the cast was actually quarantined at the hotel for the duration of the shoot, which went from October to December.
Although most film and television productions need to move their setups from location to location (sometimes even from city to city) to find the ideal look for each scene, White and his team were able to make full use of the interiors and exteriors at the five-star Four Seasons. Its offices, spa, restaurants, lobby, pools, and bars — all re-dressed for the production's purposes — were the show's mise en scène. The White Lotus emblem is featured prominently around the hotel and on actors playing staff, who wore White Lotus-branded outfits. One of those staff is played by Alec Merlino, who was one of White's fellow contestants on Survivor's "David vs. Goliath" 37th season, where White was the runner-up. Two other alums from White's season, Kara Kay and third place contestant Angelina Keeley, appear in the first episode of season 2.
The Pineapple (Lokelani Presidential), Palm (Elite Oceanfront), Hibiscus (Oceanfront Prime), and Tradewinds Suite (Maile Presidential Suite)
The guest rooms at the hotel underwent revamps by Laura Fox, the show's production designer, who was trying to match a very specific design request from White (that the rooms look like a mix between the infamous Madonna Inn, which is arrestingly colorful, and the elegant and refined Four Seasons).
The Pineapple Suite — obnoxious honeymooner Shane's (Jake Lacy) golden goose — is actually the Lokelani Presidential Suite, disguised in yellows, greens, browns, and replete with pineapples.
But Shane and his new wife Rachel (Alexandra Daddario) were initially placed, to Shane's well-documented dismay, in the Palm Suite instead. It's the root cause of his feud with Emmy winner Murray Bartlett's hotel manager Armond, and is one of the Four Seasons' Elite Oceanfront Suites, redecked in velvet and green.
Jennifer Coolidge's emotionally volatile, solo-traveling Tanya ends up in the pink-and-red-hued Hibiscus Suite (one of the hotel's Oceanfront Prime Suites). And then there's the dysfunctional Mossbacher family — played by Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Sydney Sweeney, and Fred Hechinger, along with Brittany O'Grady as Sweeney's college friend Paula— who spends a tumultuous week in the Tradewinds Suite, which is actually called the Maile Presidential Suite. Although the teens in the show sleep on pull-outs beds in the living room and kitchenette, this is actually the Four Seasons' second-largest suite, with three bedrooms, four bathrooms, two living rooms, and a full sauna.
Arrival Landing (Olowalu Landing, Olowalu, HI)
Although most of the show was filmed at the Four Seasons, there are a few exceptions. One of the times the crew ventured away from the hotel's grounds was when they filmed the arrival scene in the pilot episode. The soon-to-be guests at the White Lotus travel to the hotel by yacht, next traversing a green lawn where staff await them with manufactured ease and gleaming smiles.
Armond tells them the resort is just a "short ride away" in a golf cart, which is true in reality as well. The Olowalu Landing, where this scene was filmed, is a drive, not a walk, from the hotel. Depending on one's definition of short, however, it won't be as quick a ride as it appeared to be for the show's guests. In reality, it's about a 40-minute drive down the coast of Maui to get from the Landing to the Four Seasons.
The White Lotus Beach (Wailea Beach, Kihei, HI)
The beach on which Hechinger's screen-obsessed teen Quinn wakes up one morning — post-argument with his sister — to find his electronics washed away is, as it's portrayed in the show, directly next to the hotel. The Four Seasons is a few steps up from Wailea Beach, which is prominently featured in several key moments, including when Tanya finds Paula's coveted backpack of drugs after Paula and Olivia (Sweeney) leave it there mistakenly. It's also significant as one of the secret meeting places for Paula and her local lover boy Kai (Kekoa Scott Kekumano), and is the site of Quinn's ultimate spiritual awakening.
Throughout the season, Quinn finds himself connecting with the ocean, the islanders, and the traditions of the community. He especially finds unexpected joy in rowing a Hōkūleʻa — a voyaging canoe — with local friends he meets on this very beach.
The Airport (Kahului Airport, Kahului, HI)
As The White Lotus opens, an older vacationing couple in an airport lounge attempts to engage in genuine conversation with an especially-snarky Shane. The couple are morbidly curious when they hear he'd spent the week at the White Lotus — didn't someone just die there?
Like the rest of the show's filming locations, the airport in the first scene of the pilot wasn't a constructed set; it's a functioning airport called Kahului Airport. As Maui's main airport, it's responsible for much of the traffic in and out of the island and the state itself — although tourism in Hawaii is a complicated discourse.
Being the only non-tropical location in the season, the Kahului Airport provides a uniquely neutral space to launch a turbulent story. After an unreadable Shane stares out the airport window at the box labeled "human remains" being loaded onto his plane, the story jumps back in time to one week earlier, introducing viewers to all of the potential victims and suspects in a provocative and effective twist on the classic murder mystery structure.
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