September 6, 2025 • 7 mins
Popular murder mystery comedy-drama series The White Lotus is reportedly set to be located in France for the upcoming fourth season, according to new reports.
Series creator Mike White had indicated he wanted to get the series away from the usual beach resorts shown in the previous three seasons.
Flicks.co.nz editor Steve Newall speculated ahead of the new season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're going to start today by talking about a new
series which has hit Disney Plus.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Yea it is.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
That's where it's hanging out.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, it is great, Alien Earth, and I think I
might have done a little of service. I've got a
couple of EPs in and I kind of lost interest
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I get it, I think, particularly with so much sort
of IP revival and unnecessary sequels, requills spin off series
of existing properties. It does. You could lump it in
with it sort of category. But Alien Earth. I had
a bit of trepidation about this. I kind of tend
to not like prequels the things I already like, and
being a big fan of the particularly the first two
(00:51):
Alien movies, didn't love the idea of like another attempt
to sort of explain what's going on in these movies.
That's not what makes them scary. What makes them scari
is that we don't know what's going on. I think
Alien like discovering that big spaceship, not knowing what that
weird creature was that was pilot, That's what's weird and
trippy for humans out there in the universe, not you know,
sort of tight.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Let me explain this to you exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
But five episodes in and there has not been that
present in the show really. So it's set two years
before the events of Alien. A ship has crashed, has
been crashed onto Earth, hence the title. It's been out
collecting various specimens. They include the titular alien, but also
some new kind of creepy friends.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And they're good, They're inventive and quite clever.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, Alien, I'm digging it. I'm digging this kind of
these alien parasites and creepy crawleys that have found their
way back back home.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Maybe I'm a little immune because I have watched so
much Alien, and you are familiar with the Alien. I
just didn't want to get stuck on this one spacecraft
that we were on.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, and I think, you know, a big part of
what makes the Alien films work is the haunted house
in space element like that. Claustrophobia is a big part
of them. Yeah, but you can't just spend you can't
spend a whole season of expensive television running around some
steamy corridors. And there is a good sort of home
base for the show as well, So there's while there's
(02:15):
a crash ship, there's also a self described boy genius,
corporate inventor, but kind of tech bro type guy. He's
got an island retreat. He's working on weird tech there,
and he's got he's quite interested in getting a hold
of these alien life forms to exploit for whatever way
he can. But what it's kind of pointing to is
that without explaining necessarily how people found out about the
(02:39):
alien eggs or where they live, whatever, that there has
been a kind of interest in these alien species. And
I hope with three episodes remaining, we don't get any
sort of things tied in nice neat little bows and
we're left with that sort of unexploited charactery.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I will give it. I will give it another go,
do you know what? Do it is? One thing I
do like is because this is the origin story in
a sense, they don't know what they're dealing with, but
we do. And I quite love the way they're a
bit blase and quite relaxed in this environment where I
want to say to them, oh no, don't stand next
to that nesting.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Absolutely there is an episode, the fifth episode of the
season is a sort of minor flashback episode and it
kind of shows what happened on the ship before it
crashed on Earth, and it's very much there are very
familiar beats from the first Alien film. The other thing
I'd note that's really cool is in twenty twenty five
they've nailed this mix of technology where it feels like
(03:30):
it's got the technology of the seventies films. So there's
lots of cathod ATVs, there's lots of like blinking light computers,
not a hell of a lot of screens, but you
still believe it's still possible that people could travel from
planet to planet, even though even though their computers are
just like the building.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well yeah, okay, so it's worth doing. We shouldn't just
as you say. Sometimes I think that some franchises franchises
to just be left.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yes that they are. There have been cynical franchise exploitation
entrance in the Alien franchise already, so but this is
not one of them. It made me think a lot
about Alien Romulus, which was the most recent cinema version,
and that that film's kind of diminished in my mind
a little bit because of the show. The show is better,
So there we go. That's your reference point.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So you can check that out on Disney now. Of course,
very popular show is The White Lotus and they do
tend to pick a lovely, sunny, warm, tropical, often close
to a beach kind of location for.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I know what a tough Yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Very tough location to go and work in. Where do
you think Season four is going to end up?
Speaker 3 (04:40):
There are some limitations so while this isn't kind of
Carston Stone, HBO has a marketing partnership with the Four
Seasons hotel chain, so it will be out of four
Seasons as the previous seasons have all been, and deadline
the Hollywood Trade is reporting that France is going to
be the setting and to Europe. Yeah, and as they
(05:01):
as they as they discuss the different Four Seasons hotels,
that might be a possibility. So there had been some
talk that it would be good to change the setting
and but maybe move it away from the beach, go
to a ski resort. But apparently Mike White hates the
cold the guy that runs, so he won't But he
won't do that because he doesn't like being cold, So
it will always be allegedly in a warm locale. Based
(05:22):
on that and based on the availability periods of the
different four seasons hotels, it looks like the French River
Era is probably the most likely destination, which is kind
of you know, can adjacent Hollywood. Hollywood loves that part
of France.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Okay, so what do we do?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
We did?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
We did Hawaii, Italy, Thailand, didn't we Yeah? Okay, yeah,
not for young I can see it going back to France.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
No word on anything else other than this reported story
that it's going to France. Don't know when it's being made,
don't know who's in it.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Don't know when, don't know anything else except the location,
which is quite important. Interestingly, of course, when they go
and shoot their often they're not just using that one location,
even knowing that sort of is the center. And I
think I think it was the Italian one that made
it look maybe you think it was the Italian one
whereby it made it look like it was sort of
the hotel was on the beach, but apparently it was
nowhere near it, and they have they have to find
(06:12):
somewhere where they can pull a couple of location to
make it work.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
And also the ridiculous amount of time they spend shooting
the show. Seasons will seasons will pass while they filmed
this show, so it has to be also a location
where you could we winter kind of looks like summer.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So I know that you said we've got an idea
of cast and things like that, but do we have
any idea when they're planning on starting on shooting this
next season. No, okay, so we just we're just getting build.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
This is some big advanced news. It's probably going to
be in this country.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
We've potentially got the country, but that's it at the moment.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Okay, Well, we've got an unconfirmed country and that's entertainment.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
We might leave it another year before we get too excited,
but I love it. Thank you so much, Steve.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're going to start today by talking about a new
series which has hit Disney Plus.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Yea it is.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
That's where it's hanging out.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, it is great, Alien Earth, and I think I
might have done a little of service. I've got a
couple of EPs in and I kind of lost interest
a little bit.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I get it, I think, particularly with so much sort
of IP revival and unnecessary sequels, requills spin off series
of existing properties. It does. You could lump it in
with it sort of category. But Alien Earth. I had
a bit of trepidation about this. I kind of tend
to not like prequels the things I already like, and
being a big fan of the particularly the first two
(00:51):
Alien movies, didn't love the idea of like another attempt
to sort of explain what's going on in these movies.
That's not what makes them scary. What makes them scari
is that we don't know what's going on. I think
Alien like discovering that big spaceship, not knowing what that
weird creature was that was pilot, That's what's weird and
trippy for humans out there in the universe, not you know,
sort of tight.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Let me explain this to you exactly.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
But five episodes in and there has not been that
present in the show really. So it's set two years
before the events of Alien. A ship has crashed, has
been crashed onto Earth, hence the title. It's been out
collecting various specimens. They include the titular alien, but also
some new kind of creepy friends.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
And they're good, They're inventive and quite clever.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Well, Alien, I'm digging it. I'm digging this kind of
these alien parasites and creepy crawleys that have found their
way back back home.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Maybe I'm a little immune because I have watched so
much Alien, and you are familiar with the Alien. I
just didn't want to get stuck on this one spacecraft
that we were on.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, and I think, you know, a big part of
what makes the Alien films work is the haunted house
in space element like that. Claustrophobia is a big part
of them. Yeah, but you can't just spend you can't
spend a whole season of expensive television running around some
steamy corridors. And there is a good sort of home
base for the show as well, So there's while there's
(02:15):
a crash ship, there's also a self described boy genius,
corporate inventor, but kind of tech bro type guy. He's
got an island retreat. He's working on weird tech there,
and he's got he's quite interested in getting a hold
of these alien life forms to exploit for whatever way
he can. But what it's kind of pointing to is
that without explaining necessarily how people found out about the
(02:39):
alien eggs or where they live, whatever, that there has
been a kind of interest in these alien species. And
I hope with three episodes remaining, we don't get any
sort of things tied in nice neat little bows and
we're left with that sort of unexploited charactery.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I will give it. I will give it another go,
do you know what? Do it is? One thing I
do like is because this is the origin story in
a sense, they don't know what they're dealing with, but
we do. And I quite love the way they're a
bit blase and quite relaxed in this environment where I
want to say to them, oh no, don't stand next
to that nesting.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Absolutely there is an episode, the fifth episode of the
season is a sort of minor flashback episode and it
kind of shows what happened on the ship before it
crashed on Earth, and it's very much there are very
familiar beats from the first Alien film. The other thing
I'd note that's really cool is in twenty twenty five
they've nailed this mix of technology where it feels like
(03:30):
it's got the technology of the seventies films. So there's
lots of cathod ATVs, there's lots of like blinking light computers,
not a hell of a lot of screens, but you
still believe it's still possible that people could travel from
planet to planet, even though even though their computers are
just like the building.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Well yeah, okay, so it's worth doing. We shouldn't just
as you say. Sometimes I think that some franchises franchises
to just be left.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yes that they are. There have been cynical franchise exploitation
entrance in the Alien franchise already, so but this is
not one of them. It made me think a lot
about Alien Romulus, which was the most recent cinema version,
and that that film's kind of diminished in my mind
a little bit because of the show. The show is better,
So there we go. That's your reference point.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
So you can check that out on Disney now. Of course,
very popular show is The White Lotus and they do
tend to pick a lovely, sunny, warm, tropical, often close
to a beach kind of location for.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
I know what a tough Yeah, no.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Very tough location to go and work in. Where do
you think Season four is going to end up?
Speaker 3 (04:40):
There are some limitations so while this isn't kind of
Carston Stone, HBO has a marketing partnership with the Four
Seasons hotel chain, so it will be out of four
Seasons as the previous seasons have all been, and deadline
the Hollywood Trade is reporting that France is going to
be the setting and to Europe. Yeah, and as they
(05:01):
as they as they discuss the different Four Seasons hotels,
that might be a possibility. So there had been some
talk that it would be good to change the setting
and but maybe move it away from the beach, go
to a ski resort. But apparently Mike White hates the
cold the guy that runs, so he won't But he
won't do that because he doesn't like being cold, So
it will always be allegedly in a warm locale. Based
(05:22):
on that and based on the availability periods of the
different four seasons hotels, it looks like the French River
Era is probably the most likely destination, which is kind
of you know, can adjacent Hollywood. Hollywood loves that part
of France.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Okay, so what do we do?
Speaker 3 (05:35):
We did?
Speaker 2 (05:36):
We did Hawaii, Italy, Thailand, didn't we Yeah? Okay, yeah,
not for young I can see it going back to France.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
No word on anything else other than this reported story
that it's going to France. Don't know when it's being made,
don't know who's in it.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Don't know when, don't know anything else except the location,
which is quite important. Interestingly, of course, when they go
and shoot their often they're not just using that one location,
even knowing that sort of is the center. And I
think I think it was the Italian one that made
it look maybe you think it was the Italian one
whereby it made it look like it was sort of
the hotel was on the beach, but apparently it was
nowhere near it, and they have they have to find
(06:12):
somewhere where they can pull a couple of location to
make it work.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
And also the ridiculous amount of time they spend shooting
the show. Seasons will seasons will pass while they filmed
this show, so it has to be also a location
where you could we winter kind of looks like summer.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So I know that you said we've got an idea
of cast and things like that, but do we have
any idea when they're planning on starting on shooting this
next season. No, okay, so we just we're just getting build.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
This is some big advanced news. It's probably going to
be in this country.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
We've potentially got the country, but that's it at the moment.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Okay, Well, we've got an unconfirmed country and that's entertainment.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
We might leave it another year before we get too excited,
but I love it. Thank you so much, Steve.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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