The super-sized, incident-filled season three finale of The White Lotus set yet another ratings mark for the series.
Sunday’s 90-minute episode brought in 6.2 million cross-platform viewers, a first-night record for The White Lotus. It grew by 29 percent from the previous episode’s 4.8 million viewers — which had been the previous high mark, surpassing the 4.2 million for the week before that.
As the finale — which featured the deaths of several characters in a shootout teased in the season’s opening minutes — is the show’s biggest episode to date, it naturally topped previous editions in viewers. Sunday’s installment was about 50 percent larger than the season two closer in December 2022, which drew 4.1 million viewers on its first night, and it more than tripled the first season finale’s 1.9 million.
Season three also had The White Lotus’ most watched premiere to date with 2.4 million night-one viewers across platforms (including the initial airing on HBO, on-air replays and streaming on Max). The season premiere is approaching 20 million viewers, HBO says.
The season as a whole is averaging 16 million viewers and counting in the United States, per HBO, passing the 15.5 million for season two. The season three number will continue to grow for a while, as HBO measures cross-platform performance for its series for 90 days after they premiere. The White Lotus is 50 days into that window for season three as of publication time.
HBO has already ordered a fourth season of the series, which comes from creator-writer-director and executive producer Mike White. David Bernad and Mark Kamine also executive produce.
In a THR cover story, White hinted that season four’s gears were beginning to turn, although he hasn’t written anything yet. “There’s already pressure from HBO [for season four]. When they have something they’re bullish on, they want to get it out there,” he said. “We were supposed to start scouting in April, and I was like, ‘You guys, I haven’t been home in three years.’”
