If you’ve spent the last year dodging spoilers about who actually made it out of Thailand alive, you’re not alone. Mike White’s third outing of the "eat the rich" anthology turned out to be the most chaotic yet. Honestly, the biggest question on everyone’s mind once the premiere hit Max was just how much time we’d get to spend with this specific group of miserable, wealthy travelers.
How many episodes are in season 3 White Lotus?
The short answer: Season 3 consists of 8 episodes. If that feels like more than usual, it’s because it is. Mike White actually followed a pattern of growth with this show. The first season in Hawaii was a tight six-episode run. Then, the Sicily-set second season bumped things up to seven. For Thailand, HBO gave us eight full hours of spiritual searching, passive-aggressive bickering, and, well, accidental snake bites.
Each episode aired weekly on Sundays, starting on February 16, 2025, and wrapping up with a massive finale on April 6. If you're looking to binge the whole thing right now, you're looking at a commitment of roughly eight to nine hours, depending on how many times you pause to look up the filming locations or rewind that one wild scene with Walton Goggins.
Why the extra episodes actually matter
The jump to eight episodes wasn't just HBO being greedy for more subscription months. This season was fundamentally "bigger" in every way. We had a cast that felt twice as large as the previous ones, sprawling across Bangkok, Phuket, and the islands of Koh Samui.
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With more episodes, we got more room to breathe with characters like Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), who finally got some semblance of justice—and a five-million-dollar payday—after being sidelined in season one. The extra runtime allowed for subplots that probably would have been cut in a six-episode season, like the Ratliff kids' messy power dynamics or that bizarre, trance-like Full Moon party that took up a good chunk of the middle of the season.
Every Episode Title and When They Aired
Looking back at the schedule, the season was structured to build this slow-burn tension that Mike White is basically the king of.
- Episode 1: "Same Spirits, New Forms" – Aired Feb 16. This was the setup. We met the Ratliffs and the "girls' trip" trio, and we saw Belinda’s return.
- Episode 2: "Special Treatments" – Aired Feb 23. This is where the robbery at the jewelry store happened, setting the stage for the security guard Gaitok’s arc.
- Episode 3: "The Meaning of Dreams" – Aired March 2. Kinda the "slow" one, focusing on Victoria's tsunami nightmares.
- Episode 4: "Hide or Seek" – Aired March 9. The halfway point where things started getting actually dangerous.
- Episode 5: "Full-Moon Party" – Aired March 16. Absolute peak chaos.
- Episode 6: "Denials" – Aired March 23. The fallout of the party and Timothy’s legal walls closing in.
- Episode 7: "Killer Instincts" – Aired March 30. The penultimate episode that made us all think Greg was finally going to get caught.
- Episode 8: "Amor Fati" – Aired April 6. The bloody finale.
Basically, if you’re planning a rewatch, you need to clear a whole Saturday. It's a lot to process.
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The Thailand locations were basically characters
One reason for the eight-episode count was the sheer scale of the production. Unlike the first two seasons, which mostly stayed inside the walls of a single Four Seasons resort, season three moved around.
They used the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui as the main "White Lotus" hub, but a lot of the spa scenes—the ones with Belinda and Pornchai—were actually filmed at the Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas. That’s a whole different part of Thailand! When characters like Rick and Frank headed to Bangkok to find Jim Hollinger, the show shifted into an urban thriller vibe for a bit. You can't fit that kind of travelogue into six episodes without it feeling like a rushed vacation.
What experts are saying about the "Supersized" season
Television critics were mostly on board with the longer run, though some argued it felt a little "shaggy" around episode three or four.
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Writing for Collider, analysts pointed out that the 2025 season aimed for a "Greek Tragedy" feel. Mike White himself mentioned in several interviews that the theme of this season was death and Eastern spirituality. Exploring those heavy topics takes time. If you try to rush a meditation on the "cycle of suffering" in 45 minutes, it just feels like a Hallmark card. By giving us eight episodes, we actually got to see the characters fail at being "zen" over and over again until it eventually ended in gunfire.
Is there a Season 4?
Now that you know the episode count for the third installment, you're probably wondering if there's more. While HBO hasn't officially dropped a calendar for Season 4 yet, the ratings for the Season 3 finale broke records. It’s a safe bet that Mike White is already scouting resorts in Australia or maybe the Swiss Alps.
If they keep with the current trend, we might even be looking at nine or ten episodes for the next one.
Next Steps for You
- Check your subscription: Ensure your Max or HBO account is active so you can stream all eight episodes in 4K.
- Watch the "Unpacking" clips: After each episode, HBO usually has a 5-minute "Inside the Episode" feature that explains the Buddhist symbolism you might have missed.
- Look up the soundtrack: Cristobal Tapia de Veer outdid himself this year with the Thai-inspired score; it's worth a listen on Spotify while you're working.
The most important thing to remember? Don't skip the credits. There are tiny clues in the mural art that foreshadow exactly who gets shot in the pond in episode eight.