HBO’s The White Lotus has expanded its star-studded cast for season four, welcoming three major new Hollywood names.
Ben Kingsley, 82, Max Minghella, 40, and Pekka Strang, 48, have joined the upcoming season, though details regarding their roles have not yet been released.
The show’s official Instagram account made the announcement on Monday, with the caption, ‘New company is on the way. #TheWhiteLotus season 4 welcomes Ben Kingsley, Max Minghella and Pekka Strang.’
The upcoming installment of the Mike White-created series is set to follow a fresh batch of hotel guests and employees for one week – this time during the Cannes Film Festival.
The show is currently being filmed in France.
With a career spanning over 50 years, Oscar winner Kingsley has starred in Hollywood masterpieces like Schindler’s List (1993), Gandhi (1982) and Shutter Island (2010).
HBO’s The White Lotus has expanded its cast for season four, welcoming three major new Hollywood names: Ben Kingsley, 82 (L), Max Minghella, 40 (R), and Pekka Strang, 48
Acclaimed Finnish actor Strang pictured in 2023
He most recently starred in the 2026 horror Deep Water alongside Aaron Eckhart.
Meanwhile Minghella is best known for playing Nick Blaine – a brooding commander and primary love interest to Elisabeth Moss’s June Osborne – on the popular Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale.
Acclaimed Finnish actor Strang rose to fame with standout roles in the show Mister 8 (2021), the comedy Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (2019) and Tom Of Finland (2017).
Other cast members include Laura Dern, Heather Graham, Monica Bellucci’s ex-husband Vincent Cassel, Steve Coogan, Dylan Ennis, Caleb Jonte Edwards and Kumail Nanjiani.
The announcement came after it was revealed that Helena Bonham Carter, 59, has left the shoot of season four, just days after production began in the South of France.
It emerged last month that filming had commenced on the hit HBO show, an anthology series with a new storyline set in a different exotic locale each season.
However, HBO released a statement announcing Carter’s departure from the show over creative concerns involving her role.
‘With filming just underway on season four of The White Lotus, it had become apparent that the character which Mike White created for Helena Bonham Carter did not align once on set,’ the network revealed to TMZ.
With a career spanning over 50 years, Oscar winner Kingsley has starred in Hollywood masterpieces like Schindler’s List (1993); Seen in a still with Liam Neeson
Minghella is best known for playing Nick Blaine – a brooding commander and primary love interest to Elisabeth Moss’s June Osborne – on The Handmaid’s Tale; Seen in a still
Strang rose to fame with standout roles in the show Mister 8 (2021), the comedy Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (2019) and Tom Of Finland (2017 – seen in a still)
The announcement came after it was revealed that Helena Bonham Carter, 59, left the shoot of season four, just days after production began in the South of France; She is seen in January
It emerged last month that filming had commenced on the hit HBO show, an anthology series with a new storyline set in a different exotic locale each season
The real-life Airelles Chateau de la Messardiere in Saint-Tropez will be a filming location for the fictional White Lotus du Cap
Season four would have seen Carter join an all-star cast including Heather Graham (pictured last month), Sandra Bernhard, Vincent Cassel, Steve Coogan and Rosie Perez
The cast features Hollywood names like Kumail Nanjiani, Ari Graynor, Chloe Bennet, Max Greenfield and AJ Michalka, as well as Australian unknown Caleb Jonte Edwards (pictured)
‘The role has subsequently been rethought, is being rewritten and will be recast in the coming weeks,’ continued the premium cable broadcaster.
In their statement, the network noted: ‘HBO, the producers and Mike White are saddened that they won’t get to work with her, but remain ardent fans and very much hope to work with the legendary actress on another project soon.’
Fans flocked to social media bewailing the news, leaving such comments as: ‘Oh my she’s the one I’m looking forward to see in this season!!!!’
Dismayed Instagram users posted reactions like: ‘I’m depressed,’ ‘So the main character is gone…,’ and: ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.’
Some, however, already had a replacement in mind, clamoring for HBO to cast Jennifer Tilly, a star of Woody Allen’s Bullets over Broadway who has recently acquired a new fanbase on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Created by White, the show revolves around the exploits of the guests and staff at a different location of the titular hotel chain every season.
Originally, the through-line was the Jennifer Coolidge character Tanya McQuoid, a daffy rich older lady who led the first two seasons while the rest of the cast changed.
The buzzy third season went viral for the incest sex scene between brothers played by ‘nepo baby’ heartthrobs Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola, as well as for the rumors of a feud between co-stars Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood.
While the first three seasons were set in Hawaii, Sicily and Thailand, the fourth will unfold mainly on the French Riviera and partly in Paris.
Originally, the through-line was the Jennifer Coolidge character Tanya McQuoid, a daffy older lady who led the first two seasons while the rest of the cast changed; pictured season two
The buzzy third season went viral for the incest sex scene between brothers played by ‘nepo baby’ heartthrobs Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola (pictured)
Season three also wound up generating headlines because of the persistent rumors of a feud between co-stars Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood
European talent have been enlisted to add a touch of authenticity to the setting, such as Corentin Fila, Laura Smet and Nadia Tereszkiewicz from France, Frida Gustavsson from Sweden and Tobias Santelmann from Norway.
It has emerged that the real-life Airelles Chateau de la Messardiere in Saint-Tropez will be a filming location for the fictional White Lotus du Cap, while the Hotel Martinez will play both the White Lotus du Cap and the White Lotus Cannes.
The name of the White Lotus du Cap is a playful nod to the world-famous Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, an A-list nexus during the Cannes Film Festival.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton notoriously carried on a torrid love affair there while married to other people, then returned there for their own honeymoon.