Privacy Policy » ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Finale: Who Will Die?

Let’s begin with the characters most readily earmarked for death, thanks to patriarch Tim (Jason Isaacs) actively plotting ways to end his family’s lives to keep them from the shame of his coming reckoning. In the penultimate episode, Timothy goes for the gun he’s hidden away, only to find it missing. Several fan theories point out son Saxon’s (Patrick Schwarzenegger) daily use of the blender, combined with the season premiere’s warning about poisoned fruit on the hotel grounds, as a means to the end of the Ratliffs: Timothy somehow spikes the drink, killing his clan, which also includes son Lochlan (Sam Nivola), daughter Piper (Catherine Sarah Hook) and wife Victoria (Parker Posey).

Even if the show goes that way, it can’t go so smoothly for Tim, right? Nothing has yet, and nothing likely will. But that doesn’t mean we won’t see a Ratliff casualty. Could only one member of the family drink a poisoned beverage? Or if there’s a mass-shooting event, will one of them get caught in the crossfire? If only one Ratliff family member dies, look for it to be Timothy, whose entire story has been about a man coming undone and returning to the void from which he came.

Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Monaghan’s best friend trip has gone wildly off the rails. Every one of the girls has had conflict with each other at separate points in the trip, but it’s only escalated over the last couple episodes, with Jaclyn sleeping with Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius) after encouraging Laurie to do so first. Hard to imagine the sequence of events where these longtime friends turn on each other violently, but could they get caught in the gun violence featured in the season premiere? There are two reasons to worry about it: the imagery of them getting blasted by water pistols earlier in the season, and their close proximity to three of the likeliest death candidates on the board…

In the penultimate episode, Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) puts the puzzle together: the men who robbed the White Lotus earlier in the season are wellness instructor Valentin and his pals: actor Julian Kostov as Aleksei and Yuri Kolokolnikov as Vlad. Laurie enters the finale having seen the stolen goods in Alexei’s closet, too, which puts her and her friends somewhere in the crosshairs. But no one’s at a more dangerous precipice than Gaitok, who now has incentive to prove himself worthy of bodyguard duty, not to mention a place beside his hopeful love Mook (Lalisa Manobal). Could Gaitok step up, as Mook wants him to do, only to find himself lost in the battle? Either way, the safest death bet heading into the finale is at least one if not all of Valentin’s crew.

Let’s look at the other criminal on the White Lotus lot: Greg (Jon Gries), the only character to appear on every single season of The White Lotus thus far. Having plotted Tanya’s demise and securing her wealth, Greg headed to Thailand for a life far away from “this and that.” But now that Belinda knows his secret, and now that she’s all-but turned down his offer for hush money, will he step up his deadly game and take matters into his own hands? I have an odd theory based on little else other than instinct: Greg will actually somehow save Belinda when the bullets start flying, highlighting one of the season’s themes of good people doing bad things, and bad people doing good things; that one event does not define you, and you contain multitudes. Is a Greg redemption off the table? Probably, yeah. But one can only hope for his survival, if only to see him pop up next season on The White Lotus: Jail alongside Timothy. As for Belinda, she’s safe, if Mike White knows what’s best for him.

Rick (Walton Goggins) finally got some satisfaction, having confronted Jim (Scott Glenn), the man responsible for his father’s death. Theories persist that Jim is actually Rick’s father, in some form of Darth Vader-level twist. Whether that’s the case, the story here does not feel concluded, with Jim having to deliver his side of the conversation before all’s said and done. Rick has to get back to the White Lotus by season’s end if only to close his arc with Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), who is absolutely worth worrying about heading into the finale. “Bad things come in threes,” she’s repeatedly said, and two bad things have already happened: Chelsea was hurt at the robbery, and she was bitten by a poisonous snake. Is she going to end up a victim in the finale, leaving Rick empty and alone again? Again, if Mike White knows what’s best for him, absolutely not. Chelsea is an angel and must be protected at all costs. My personal theory, however, is Chelsea witnesses tragedy striking the Ratliff family, finally sees worth in Saxon and realizes he’s her soul mate, not Rick, after all; that Rick was only in her life to bring her to the White Lotus, where she meets the person who truly needs her most. 

Who else is in the danger zone heading into the finale? If we’re looking at multiple casualties, I would start worrying for some of the background players like Pam (Morgana O’Reilly) and Fabian (Christian Friedel), especially the former, given her proximity to the Ratliff storyline. If the finale wants to start with a tragic bang, it could open with Rick finding Frank (Sam Rockwell) dead after their long night of partying. Being in a relationship with Greg has proven deadly in the past, so maybe we should start fearing for Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon). And let’s not forget, there are three of Mike White’s Survivor friends somewhere out there on the show: Natalie Cole, Carl Boudreaux, and Christian Hubicki in blink-or-you-miss-them cameos. White has never dared to kill off any of his fellow tribe mates on this show, but is season three the time to do so? In any event, come Sunday night, the tribe will have spoken for at least one of the above mentioned characters. Time will tell whose torch is about to get snuffed.

For more White Lotus, read THR’s uncensored oral history with Mike White and the cast, as well as how season three cast its ensemble.