Few TV shows command the level of obsessive online theorising that The White Lotus does. From the moment HBO announced the third season would be set in Thailand, the internet has been ablaze with speculation—on the setting, the characters, and, most importantly, the body count. Because The White Lotus has a formula, and we know how it goes: exotic location, wealthy tourists behaving badly, and—somewhere along the way—a dead body (or bodies). So, who dies in The White Lotus season three?
Now, with the finale for season three officially out, we finally have all the answers. So, in the name of pop culture due diligence, here is the full list of casualties from the final episode.
It goes without saying, SPOILERS ahead.
Who Dies In The White Lotus Season Three?
Jim Hollinger
Jim Hollinger, portrayed by Scott Glenn, was the first casualty of the season, taken out in a final face down with Rick. In what he believes to be retribution for the death of his father that has haunted him since his childhood, Rick shoots Jim with his own gun. Moments after, its revealed that Jim is in fact Rick’s father, but before he has time to process the information, Jim’s security instigate a shoot out.
Chelsea
Just as things between Rick and Chelsea were finally entering a good place, Chelsea gets hit in the chest by one of the bullets during the shoot out. Rick rushes to her and in an emotional ending for the pair, Chelsea dies in his arms.
Rick
After the shoot out, Rick picks up Amy’s body and starts walking off, only to be shot in the back by Gaitok.
After hearing the sound of gunshots, Gaitok retrieves the gun from the locked drawer in his office and runs to the scene. He finds Sritala (Lek Patravadi) holding Jim’s body and commands Gaitok to kill Rick. After more yells from Sritala, Gaitok finally pulls the trigger and both Rick and Chelsea fall into the water—inevitably proving to be the body that Zion saw in the season’s first episode.
Lochlan Ratliff
Lochlan, played by Sam Nivola’s, has had the kind of character arc that screams finale-level fallout.
Fans were quick to pull out any sign of a clue, noting that a slight detail in the opening credits may just confirm this theory. For each of the actor’s name in the show’s credits, a different illustration inspired by Thai mural paintings is shown. The image next to Sam Nivola’s name is a body underwater, much like the floating body we caught a glimpse of in episode one, leading many fans to believe that Nivola’s character, Lochlan Ratliff, will be the one to die. And he almost did.
Lochlan makes a protein shake in the blender with remnants of the poisonous fruit his dad had blitzed up in another murder-suicide attempt and inevitably ends up passing out by the pool in a near death experience. However, he eventually comes back to the world of the living, in the arms of his father.
The White Lotus season three is currently airing in Australia on Binge. New episodes drop each Monday.
