HBO‘s first look teaser for The White Lotus Season Three is only six seconds long — but fans who have been waiting months for a glimpse into the upcoming set of episodes are clamoring for any crumbs they can get. The brief clip arrives as MAX begins to roll out its slate of programming scheduled for 2025, which also sees the return of The Last of Us and the premiere of new series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and IT: Welcome to Derry.
“New luxuries await you in Thailand,” the official MAX account captioned the clip of The White Lotus. Natasha Rothwell appears in the teaser as one of the only returning cast members, while new additions include BLACKPINK’s Lisa, Francesca Corney, Nicholas Duvernay, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Aimee Lou Wood, and more. “Please at least show us a little glimpse of Lisa please please we beg you we cannot wait until 2025 just a little please please,” one user pleaded in the posts beneath the teaser on X (formerly Twitter). Another wrote: “Woke up and actress Lisa being mentioned all over the timeline, I’m so excited for her role in white lotus like ACKKKJ 😩.”
The replies are split pretty evenly between excited celebrations of Lisa, who will make her acting debut on the popular series, and criticism of the harsh yellow filter that colors the clip. “When will America stop making the global south look so damn jaundiced in all of their tv shows and movies,” one user asked in the quote replies. Its a similar filter to the one used on the show’s first season, but as another viewer noted: “Ditching the heavy yellow grade was one of the biggest improvements that Season 2 made. Disappointing to see it back for Season 3. Mike White, get back in the grade ASAP!”
The White Lotus preview doesn’t give much away in terms of plot points, but fans of The Last of Us have a little more to work with. The clip for the video game-based series runs for 21 seconds but packs in a ton of developments.
Pedro Pascal returns as Joel, a character grappling with some gruesome decisions made at the end of Season One. “I saved her,” he says in the clip, tears welling in his eyes, a sharp contrast to the stern tone of his delivery. Bella Ramsey also returns as Ellie, who’s captured in a scene of complete distress in the preview. There are guns blazing—including one brandished by Jeffrey Wright’s Isaac—and the introduction of an unknown character played by Catherine O’Hara.
“The Last of Us season 2 is either going to do better than season 1 or once youknowwhat happens I wonder how many casual viewers drop off the show,” one user pondered in the quote replies of the teaser, hinting at a massive plot point. Another warned: “For the people that never played the game: Brace yourself.” Dozens of other responses span a few different versions of the same sentiment of “We are so fucking back.”
But other viewers wondered about the progression of the plot running parallel to the second video game in the series, rather than the show creators choosing to further lean into more foundational material from the first season — perhaps trying to delay the inevitable. “It remains insane to me that they’re just skipping straight to the second game instead of taking the opportunity to flesh out the intervening years. being that it’s a TELEVISION SHOW,” one user wrote.
Like The White Lotus, reactions to Season Two of The Last of Us aren’t without criticism of choices relating to broader sociopolitical themes within the series. Neil Druckmann, who created The Last of Us game series, has cited conflict between Israel and Palestine as a source of inspiration behind the game, particularly the developments that occur in part two. Some users in the quotes have encouraged others to boycott the show entirely in light of ongoing violence in Gaza, while others suggested that those committed to still watching do so on pirated websites.
The Last of Us, The White Lotus, IT: Welcome to Derry, and other HBO series slated for release in 2025 were heavily impacted by the 2023 Hollywood strikes. The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin had submitted the script for season two to HBO less than two hours before the Writers Guild of America strike began. “I think it’s becoming essentially a near certainty that we won’t be able to start [filming] when we were hoping to start, which is upsetting,” he said at the time. “We are all raring to go.” 2025 is still months away, but things are back on track at HBO.
