Page 97 - Metropolis Magazine nº115

On the show’s overall DNA? nature of exploring existential, did this come from?’ I can't
Mike White: I think that for spiritual themes. remember. It feels like it cobbles
the show to feel fresh, it needs to Just like the other seasons, there's together. This time, because of
either expand or shift or change. the "Fantasy Island" element some more logistical issues with
The first season was a lot about where instead of a plane, people shooting so far away, it took
privilege and a kind of upstairs/ arrive on a boat and they are a little bit longer for the show
downstairs thing with the transformed by their week on to happen and for us to start
employees and the guests and the their vacation. That sort of setup is shooting. So, there was a longer
comedy of that. And then, when the same. And it's a certain type of period where I wasn't writing
we were in Italy [for season two], clientele in some senses, although but gestating on various ideas.
the theme was more about sex and it's not exclusively about those It didn't really synthesize until I
the dynamic between men and people, but about these people was in Thailand but, again, it goes
women and sexual relationships. who are hoping to have this luxury back to these Buddhist concepts
This season is dealing with more vacation and how it becomes a that were an organizing principle
religion and spirituality and God, much more fraught existential that helped me orchestrate all the
so the show itself and the kind of experience. different characters.
stories that these characters
are facing are a little bit more On shaping the season three Natasha Rothwell’s return as
existential and tragic. It has a stories Belinda Lindsey...
little bit more of an operatic, Mike White: I sometimes have Mike White: Natasha was
dramatic dimension because of the moments where I'm like, ‘where amazing to work with and such

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