‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 to Premiere on HBO, With Wellness and Angst Included

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‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 to Premiere on HBO, With Wellness and Angst Included

What’s a luxury vacation without digital detoxes, clashing personalities, sprawling hillside villas and lots of wine?

On Monday night in Los Angeles, HBO celebrated the season premiere of “The White Lotus,” this time set at a lavish resort in Thailand famed for its wellness program — a place where guests are encouraged by one staff member to “focus on being present.”

Directed and written by Mike White, the dark comedy, which returns Sunday at 9 p.m., follows hotel staff and affluent guests vacationing at high-end White Lotus resorts around the world. As in previous seasons, set in Hawaii and Sicily, the episode begins with an ambiguous death and rewinds to the start of the trip, allowing viewers to watch every tense relationship unfold.

On the boat to the resort, viewers are introduced to a wealthy Southern family, a bickering couple, a famous actress on a girls’ trip with two childhood friends, and the burned out spa manager from the first season, Belinda, played by Natasha Rothwell, who’s in Thailand to learn wellness practices for the White Lotus in Maui.

Built into a lush landscape where monkeys chatter from the trees, the hotel is set near a Buddhist temple, which serves as a backdrop for deeper questions, about spirituality and identity.

On Monday, actresses including Ms. Rothwell, Parker Posey and Lisa, the Thai singer from the K-pop group Blackpink, were among the show’s stars who filled Hollywood’s Paramount Theatre to celebrate the show. Other guests included the actor and former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the journalist Maria Shriver, whose son, Patrick Schwarzenegger, is part of the new cast.

“As much as meditation and all of that is like, all woo-woo and buzz-wordy, I do think there’s something to finding yourself, being with yourself, and being OK with yourself,” Ms. Rothwell said. “I think this season explores that.”

But she said her own attempts to disconnect have been challenging.

“I went to a Buddhist, silent, tech-free meditation for five days, four nights and woo doggy,” she said. She added that she did manage to journal. “I think I just wrote the letters ‘AH,’ over and over and over again, like screaming into the abyss.”

As the show’s cast walked the red carpet — which in actuality was a tasteful fake wood floor — they reflected on their personal spiritual journeys.

“I’m a recovering Catholic,” said Carrie *****, the actress who plays Laurie, one of the women on the girls’ trip. “And I find the overarching philosophy of Buddhism really useful, and I love that Mike is packaging it in this show that a lot of people watch.”

“It’s important to consider that there is a lot of suffering,” she added, “but there’s also an end of that suffering, and part of it is about letting go of your stories and your identity.”

For some of the actors, the six months that they spent shooting at the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui felt like a truly luxurious trip.

“You’re on a vacation in Thailand, every now and again, standing on marks and saying amazingly funny, silly things that Mike wrote,” said Arnas Fedaravicius, who plays the hotel’s sought-after Russian trainer.

Inside the theater, beneath a large screen, dozens of lush green plants brought a bit more island ambience into the room. And instead of being served popcorn or candy, guests could snack on dried chili mango and Thai shrimp chips during the screening.

Following the severe wildfires that burned more than 40,000 acres across the greater Los Angeles area, organizers considered canceling or moving the event.

“But we heard loud and clear from our vendors to please move forward with the event,” Casey Bloys, the chairman and chief executive of HBO and Max Content, said before the first episode aired. “Their businesses needed the work, now is not the time to leave.”

Mr. White also made a few remarks before the screening began.

“You’re looking at somebody just across the finish line of, like, the hardest race that I’ve ever run,” he said, his voice seeming to break with emotion.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that it’s as good as it gets,” he added. “So I’m just happy to be here,” he said.

Inside the party, old and new cast members mixed and mingled with celebrities and loved ones. The comedian Eric André and the actor Chris Pratt chatted with friends as partygoers around the room sampled crispy wontons, Thai egg rolls, crab fried rice and more from

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, three restaurants that were affected by the Eaton and Palisades fires in January, as well as Anajak Thai.

The actress Molly Shannon, who appeared in the first season of “The White Lotus,” snapped a portrait with her husband, ****** Chesnut, at a themed photo booth while the D.J. Bella Fiasco played songs by Britney Spears, Janet Jackson and Tinashe. At the bar, Paris Hilton joined the actor Lukas Gage, where she touched up her lipstick in a small heart-shaped hand mirror.

And in true White Lotus fashion, there was a tinge of anxiety looming over the swinging party.

“For six months, we had this baby, and this experience that’s so tender and dear to me, and now the world’s going to see it,” said Leslie Bibb, the actress who plays Kate, another woman on the girls’ trip. “It feels like big shoes to fill, so I hope that we do our job.”

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