The Best Books, Movies, Video Games, and Podcasts to Check Out After Watching ‘The White Lotus’[html]
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Over the course of three seasons (so far), HBO’s The White Lotus has served up a delicious menu of murder mystery, eat-the-rich satire, and hilarious class warfare. From Hawa’ii to Sicily to Thailand, the show’s intricate storytelling and Mike White’s acerbic character work have made it an addictive sensation.
Season Four—set in Paris—is on the way, but if you can’t wait, and need more darkly comedic class warfare in your entertainment diet now (and you’ve already burned through the shows we’ve recommended as streamalikes), here are the books, movies, games, and podcasts you should try next.
The best books like The White Lotus
Nothing beats long-form fiction for complex character interactions, devious plotting, and lush descriptions of luxurious locales. Here are the books that will give you those White Lotus feels.
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
This classic banger of American literature still delivers—times may have changed, but Fitzgerald’s story of ill-gotten wealth and attempts to use it to buy, well, everything still hits hard. You can easily imagine Jay Gatsby showing up at a White Lotus resort in the late 1920s, chasing after something he can’t have and burying himself in purchased luxury before becoming embroiled in a tragic death of some sort (possibly his own).
The Grand Paloma Resort, by Cleyvis Natera
If you bonded with Armond, the manager of the White Lotus resort in Maui portrayed by Murray Bartlett in season one, this is a perfect read: Laura is the manager of the Grand Paloma Resort in the Dominican Republic, and she has a lot on her plate. Up for a promotion that will secure her future, she’s dealing with her wild younger sister, Elena, who works as a nanny for hotel guests—when she’s not partying. When a child is injured under Elena’s care, Laura embarks on an ill-advised scheme to protect her sister and her own career, and things quickly go very off the rails.
The Guest List, by Lucy Foley
The Guest List ticks all the boxes: Remote, luxurious location? Check—an exclusive island off the coast of Ireland and a spare-no-expense wedding. Monied people lugging secrets from the mainland? Check—wedding guests arrive with a lot of drama trailing in their wake. An inconvenient dead body? Check—along with a sinister bridesmaid, an old friend of the bride’s carrying a torch, and some reckless substance abuse. If the White Lotus had a resort in Ireland and hosted a wedding, this is exactly how it would all go down.
Bad Tourists, by Caro Carver
Love exploring how the guests at each White Lotus bring their own trauma as luggage? Bad Tourists digs into that juicy trope. Darcy has had a rough couple of years, a tumultuous period marked by violence and ending in a shattering divorce. She takes her settlement money and buys a luxury trip to the Maldives for herself and two friends, Kate and Camilla. The trio bonded over their shared trauma stemming from a massacre, and it haunts their vacation from the beginning. Soon they’re worrying over a newlywed whose husband might be an abuser and a flirty dance instructor who seduces Camilla—and promptly vanishes.
The Namaste Club, by Asha Elias
If season three of The White Lotus was your favorite because of the complicated girlfriend dynamics it explored, check out The Namaste Club. The titular retreat is a sun-soaked yoga center run by Insta-ready influencer Shakti. Wealthy women from all over Florida flock there to escape their messy lives and find some peace (or maybe just the attention of the handsome assistant instructor, Daniel). But they bring their personal messes with them, and by the end of this particular retreat, one of them will no longer have to worry about it—or anything else.
The best movies like The White Lotus
Each season of The White Lotus is a slow burn, giving us room to get to know the characters, the layout of the resort, and the dynamics that will swirl into murder. For those seeking similar slow burn mysteries with capitalism-skewering themes, these films are ideal.
Triangle of Sadness (2022)
One of the joys of The White Lotus is how it lampoons the wealthy, clueless tourists who float into the resort on fumes of privilege. Triangle of Sadness goes even further, following a pair of vacuous influencers who are gifted berths on a luxury yacht in exchange for views. The yacht is soaked in wealth and entitlement—until things go disastrously (and hilariously) wrong. It’s not subtle (there is a lengthy sequence documenting a case of epic food poisoning depicted in gross detail), but it is a hilarious look at the social dynamics of luxury, wealth, and the service workers who make it all possible. Stream Triangle of Sadness on Netflix or rent it on Prime Video.
Parasite (2019)
One of the great things about The White Lotus is that Mike White doesn’t forget the workers who make the comfortable, easy lives of the wealthy possible. Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film explores a similar dynamic, following the efforts of the poor, struggling Kim family to insert themselves into the wealthy Park family’s lives—only to discover they’re not the only ones surviving off the wealthy family’s resources. Stream Parasite on Kanopy or rent it on Prime Video.
Infinity Pool (2023)
Infinity Pool swims in the same class- and money-focused waters as The White Lotus, just in a more speculative way. The story follows a struggling author, James (Alexander Skarsgård), who falls in with a group of thrill-seeking tourists in the fictional nation of Li Tolqa. The country’s justice system is brutal—it generally offers the death sentence for any crime—but when James accidentally kills a native, he discovers a dark secret: Wealthy tourists can pay to have a clone of themselves executed instead. What follows is a terrifying exploration of what it means to truly be insulated by money while kind of, maybe definitely, hating yourself for it. Stream Infinity Pool on Kanopy or rent it on Prime Video.
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Patricia Highsmith’s brilliant 1955 novel has been adapted several times, but it’s Matt Damon’s 1999 turn as the title character that resonates most with The White Lotus. His version of Ripley may be dealing with issues around his obvious attraction to Jude Law’s Dickie Greenleaf, but its Dickie's lifestyle of leisure and money that steals the show. After Ripley’s hunger for what Dickie has turns deadly, he takes over his life, viewing himself as better-suited to appreciate the privilege Dickie always took for granted. It’s easy to imagine Ripley taking a rest at a White Lotus location someday, and probably targeting one of his fellow guests for a bit of well-deserved fun. Stream The Talented Mr. Ripley on Kanopy or Paramount Plus, or rent it on
