7 Shows Like The White Lotus to Watch While You Wait for Season 3

There's just something so addictive about The White Lotus. Mike White's HBO anthology about a luxury resort chain where something bad is always happening is a show that gets the people talking. It's also a reliable source for viral Jennifer Coolidge clips, which is something everyone can appreciate. Season 1 revolved around the upstairs/downstairs dynamic between the hotel staff and the guests, while Season 2 focus on troubled interpersonal relationships. Who's to say what will happen in Season 3? If we had to guess, probably another dead body, but other than that...?

If you're looking for other shows like The White Lotus to watch until then, we have a few recommendations for more mysteries, more shows about clueless rich people, and more bad vacations. Pack your bags and let these series take you away.

The White Lotus Watch on Max

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Succession

There's never been a better time to make a show about the uber-rich, but creator Jesse Armstrong's drama does it better than most. Succession follows the twisted dynamics and power struggles of exorbitantly wealthy Roys, a family of billionaires whose father is the CEO of an enormous media conglomerate. Sure, it's "about business," but it's actually about how wealth and status corrupt people's souls and relationships. The writing is razor sharp, and the clashing personality types among the siblings — from sad boy king Kendall (Jeremy Strong) to slimy, broken Roman (Kieran Culkin) to cold, calculating Shiv (Sarah Snook) — will remind you of those great moments when The White Lotus lets its characters collide in the worst ways. 

Enlightened

Before The White Lotus, there was Enlightened. One of the best series HBO has ever produced, Mike White's half-hour dramedy stars Laura Dern — in arguably her greatest performance — as Amy Jellicoe, a former corporate exec who heads to a spiritual retreat after a breakdown. There, she becomes an eco-friendly New Age goddess who rejoins her company at the bottom of the ladder, where she plots to take down the corporation. Touching and hilarious, Enlightened was ahead of its time, and if you're looking for more of White's signature voice, you have two whole seasons to check out. The only bad thing about it was that it was canceled way too soon.

The Resort

Before it even premiered, The Resort was getting compared to The White Lotus. It makes sense: Both series are set at idyllic vacation destinations that are harboring deeper, more sinister secrets. But where The White Lotus is more interested in social satire, The Resort goes all in on the mystery. It follows a married couple, Noah (William Jackson Harper) and Emma (Cristin Milioti), trying to work through a rough patch in their relationship by celebrating their 10-year anniversary on a trip to the Yucatan. When they discover a flip phone that might be the key to the unexplained case of two teens who went missing 15 years earlier while staying at a separate resort, they get sucked into an elaborate conspiracy. If you're looking for another show about a vacation gone wrong, The Resort will scratch that itch.

Fleishman Is in Trouble

Season 2 of The White Lotus went all in on heterosexual relationship dynamics, exploring the different issues that can plague couples, like jealousy, manipulation, infidelity, and the eternal divide between men and women. If you're looking for another show that examines marriage under a microscope, the FX limited series Fleishman Is in Trouble does it better than most. Jesse Eisenberg stars as Toby Fleishman, a fortysomething liver doctor starting to get his dating groove back while embroiled in a contentious divorce with his wife, Rachel (Claire Danes), who seemingly disappears off the face of the earth one morning after unceremoniously dropping off their preteen children at his apartment. There are shades of Aubrey Plaza's perpetually uncomfortable Harper in Rachel, and if you were addicted to the twisted little foursome she spent the season stuck in, you'll love Fleishman. 

Yellowjackets

Yes, Yellowjackets and The White Lotus have very different premises (but would it really surprise you to learn there might be cannibalism going on somewhere inside one of these hotels?), and yet few shows inspire people to theorize and pore over small details the way that these two do. Yellowjackets follows a New Jersey high school girls soccer team that gets stranded in the wilderness after a plane crash. The series splits its timeline between the slow descent into chaos that occurred during the 19 months the girls were lost, and the future, when four of the survivors are adults being stalked by a mysterious presence. Yellowjackets, which is taking its time rolling out the truth of its core mystery, is the perfect series for people who love to spend their time debating about who got murdered on The White Lotus.

The Flight Attendant

If you're looking for a mystery series that doesn't take itself too seriously, look no further than The Flight Attendant. The dramedy stars a never-better Kaley Cuoco as hard-partying flight attendant Cassie, who wakes up after a one-night stand with a passenger next to his his bloodied corpse with no memory of how he ended up dead. It's a zippy, often very funny globe-trotting thriller that finds Cassie racing against the clock to clear her name while also confronting her own repressed trauma. It's less prestige-y than The White Lotus, but it's just as compelling. 

Acapulco

The world of luxury hospitality is the perfect backdrop for wacky things to happen on television. The White Lotus knows this, but it isn't the only great show on right now set at a posh resort in a luxurious locale. Apple TV+'s Acapulco follows an ambitious local named Maximo (Enrique Arrizon) who longs to move up in the hotel business, even if it goes against everything his traditional mother stands for. Like The White Lotus, it will quickly put you in vacation mode, but unlike The White Lotus, the earnest and good-natured Acapulco will restore your faith in human beings. Throw it on when you want a drink with an umbrella in it without the infidelity and dissolving relationships. –Tim Surette