The White Lotus Creator Open to Prequel Series Starring a De-Aged Jennifer Coolidge

We may not have seen the last of Jennifer Coolidge in The White Lotus just yet. Created by Mike White, The White Lotus is an anthology series with each season focusing on a new cast of characters in a different location. Season 1, which debuted in 2021, was set in Hawaii, while last year’s second season moved the story over to Sicily. After starring as Tanya McQuoid in the first season, Coolidge reprised the role for season 2, and given what ends up happening with the character, chances are she won’t appear in season 3.

With that said, Coolidge could still be featured in a future season of The White Lotus that is set many years in the past. Per Deadline, White and Coolidge were at a press conference in Sydney, Australia, where they addressed possibly collaborating again on the hit HBO series. When asked specifically about a prequel season with Coolidge returning as Tanya, White responded with a promising answer, teasing that this is a real possibility that he’s even had some talks about already.

“I absolutely think that’s possible, we were just talking about that,” explains White, teasing how de-aging technology could be used for the prequel. “It’s a funny idea. And making Jennifer, you know, 20 years younger, that would be fun too. I think Jennifer’s like, ‘Sure, let’s do it!’”

Asked for her pick on where the prequel season could be set, Coolidge responded, “Australia gets my vote.”

White also said that setting a season of the show in Australia was another good possibility. He mentions how he’d ideally like to have a season set in all seven continents, and that means hitting the land Down Under at a certain point.

“My dream would be to hit every continent, so yeah, this is like its own continent, basically,” White says “We kind of have to come to Australia if we keep going. It would be so fun. Obviously, there’s a huge wealth of talent here and the beauty is inarguable, so it feels like it checks all the boxes.”

Related: 10 Highly Underrated Jennifer Coolidge Performances

Jennifer Coolidge May Not Be Finished With The White Lotus

If White loves Coolidge as Tanya so much, then why did the character meet her end in the show’s second season? White has an answer for that, weighing in on the shocking decision in a featurette released at the end of the season. The writer said he didn’t exactly want to kill off Tanya, but that it felt right in light of a line she said in the first season, noting that death is the “last immersive experience” she still hadn’t tried.

“Maybe that’s the journey for her: a journey to death,” White explained. “Not that I really wanted to kill Tanya, because I love her as a character and obviously love Jennifer, but I just felt like we’re going to Italy, [and] she’s such a diva, a larger-than-life female archetype. It just felt like we could devise our own operatic conclusion to Tanya’s life and her story.”

Meanwhile, a third season of The White Lotus is currently in the works. What’s known about the new season is that the story will be set in Thailand, moving the series over to Asia. Natasha Rothwell will also return in season 3 as Belinda, the character she played in the first season. A premiere date hasn’t yet been announced.