As Carrie Coon’s character is checking out her accommodations at the White Lotus for the first time, she opens the large French doors with gusto, steps onto a deck, and looks out over a breathtaking view. Her room sits on a hillside that sweeps down to a stretch of beach, and from there the land, dotted with structures that seem to be swimming among the resplendent palm trees, sweeps back uphill again. This creates a sort of private alcove nestled next to the expansive turquoise water of the Gulf of Thailand, an establishing shot that viewers of The White Lotus season three (airing now on Max) will recognize. When Laurie (Coon) looks to her left, her jaw drops. Mere feet from where she stands, monkeys hang from the trees, staring back at her.
I was recently invited to visit the hotel that served as the main filming location for the much-anticipated show. Upon my arrival at the Four Seasons Koh Samui, one of the first things I learned is that you won’t actually spot any wild monkeys on this island off the east coast of southern Thailand. Their lurking presence is merely another bit of world-building from show creator Mike White, a device to suggest, perhaps, that the guests of his fictional resort are being watched. There are, however, statues of monkeys around every corner, including near the front door, pool, and balcony at residence nine, a 12,572-square-foot multi-building dwelling where I—like Laurie and her “longtime” (definitely not old) friends, TV star Jaclyn Lemon (Michelle Monaghan) and Austin-based housewife Kate (Leslie Bibb)—stayed during my visit. These figures were added by Bill Bensley, the Bangkok-based architect and landscape architect who designed the property, which opened in 2007.
Maybe the monkey decoration helped sell White on the Four Season Koh Samui as he scoured Thailand for the perfect setting for the third season of his black comedy anthology, which, as always, explores the rub between the resort employees and locals and the wealthy tourists who descend upon them. Ultimately though, the resort was perfect as the main backdrop for the production because it is a place built to cater to clientele from the absolute upper echelons, just like the characters in the show. (Other locations in Thailand supplemented production—the spa scenes were filmed at Anantara Mai Khao Phuket; the lobby, security station, and boutique at Anantara Bophut Koh Samui; a bar at Anantara Lawana Koh Samui; a restaurant at Rosewood Phuket—and interior sets were also recreated on a Bangkok soundstage.)
“Mike is the creative director and decides the location based on the script and what he has as a plot. I asked him why he selected our resort, and he said, ‘I’m trying to depict a script in which you have these ultrahigh-net-worth individuals who are traveling in the ultraluxury environment,’” recalls the hotel’s general manager, JJ Assi.
