Laura Dern is swooping in to save the new season of ‘The White Lotus’
By Dan Heching, CNN
(CNN) — Grab your sunscreen and your best poolside fashion: Laura Dern is heading to “The White Lotus,” a move that amounts to the ultimate phone-a-friend flex.
The Oscar-winning actress is checking into Season 4 of the acclaimed HBO show following the sudden departure of actress Helena Bonham Carter last week. The streamer confirmed the new casting to CNN on Tuesday. (HBO and CNN are owned by the same parent company.)
There are few details yet about her role on the show, but expectations will be high as she dives into the world of the luxurious White Lotus hotel chain and the sometimes deadly antics of its spoiled guests and exasperated staff. The latest season is already in production in the south of France, with much of the action due to take place during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
HBO said last week that Bonham Carter left when it became clear during filming that the character written for her “did not align once on set.” Bonham Carter’s representatives had no additional comment when reached by CNN.
Now, Dern will reunite with her longtime collaborator Mike White, the mastermind creator of “The White Lotus.”
Over a decade ago, the two worked together to create and act in the cult HBO series “Enlightened,” where they established the blueprint for difficult-to-like characters nonetheless winning the hearts and minds of the audience — something White would carry to “The White Lotus.”
In “Enlightened,” Dern played Amy Jellicoe, a somewhat deluded professional who suffers a mental break at work and tries to mend fences after a spiritual retreat. The show ran for two seasons beginning in 2011 and was nominated for two Emmys. Even before that, the pair worked together on the 2007 film “Year of the Dog.”
“She’s definitely unlike most actresses I’ve worked with in the sense that she’s not consumed with the likeability of the character,” Mike White said of Dern in an interview with Kate Aurthur for BuzzFeed in 2013. “In fact, she wants to play the edges and is completely fearless about being unpleasant or unappealing in moments.”
If anyone knows unlikeable characters, it’s White. From Jennifer Coolidge parading around and cringing it up in Hawaii and Sicily in Seasons 1 and 2 to Jason Isaacs creating an entitled finance bro in hot water in Season 3, White has managed to make the rich and obnoxious guests at the “Lotus” endlessly fascinating, and sometimes even a little sympathetic.
Another of White’s signature touches is his habit of repeatedly working with favorite actors. Molly Shannon, who appeared in several episodes of the first season of “The White Lotus” and had an Emmy-nominated role in “Enlightened,” was featured in a starring role in “Year of the Dog,” which White directed.
This won’t even be Dern’s first appearance on “The White Lotus” — technically.
In Season 2, the star provided her voice for an uncredited phone cameo as Dominic Di Grasso’s (Michael Imperioli) enraged wife Abby. She told Jimmy Kimmel about recording the role back in 2023. “It was amazing and I just loved doing it,” she said at the time, adding that she and White were “old friends.”
“I loved, you know, literally recording into my phone and him saying, ‘Just — go to town, be as angry as you want.’”
Other confirmed cast members for “White Lotus“ Season 4, which does not yet have a premiere date, include Rosie Perez, Heather Graham, Kumail Nanjiani, Chris Messina and Sandra Bernhard.
The-CNN-Wire
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