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Who Will Die in ‘The White Lotus’ Season 2?

Update: Tanya died. :(

HBO’s “The White Lotus” is back — which means that viewers, once again, have a murder on their hands.

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Season 2 opens with Daphne (Meghann Fahy) going for a swim on the last day of her holiday in Sicily, when she bumps into a dead body (or part of a body?) and swims, screaming, back to shore. Daphne isn’t the victim, but who in this gorgeous, secretive, calculating cast of characters is floating lifeless in the ocean by season’s end?

The second installment of Mike White’s buzzy limited series explores taut sexual politics in one of the world’s most romantic and storied locales, all while building up to not just one death, but multiple. As White Lotus Sicily manager Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore) learns in the cold open, there are more bodies out there, which sets this death definitively as a murder — unlike Season 1’s arguable accident.

With a mostly new cast and so many possibilities, IndieWire is breaking down the life-and-death odds every week, updating to reflect developments of the latest episode. Here’s who we think is most likely to die or kill in “The White Lotus” Season 2 finale.

Most Likely To Die

Simona Tabasco as Lucia in “The White Lotus” Season 2 - Credit: HBO
Simona Tabasco as Lucia in “The White Lotus” Season 2 - Credit: HBO

HBO

1. Cameron (Theo James)

Things have taken quite the turn for our favorite bickering millennial couples. Guiltless cheater and known douchebag Cam is now his best friend’s number one enemy, thanks to a night of illicit partying, Harper’s (Aubrey Plaza) resultant anger, and years of pent-up resentment from Ethan (Will Sharpe) that Cam goes after every woman Ethan wants. Cam is conspicuously absent in the opening scene even though he and Daphne are usually inseparable, and her face is obscured when they wrap up the body bag. The only thing saving Cam from certain death in the finale is how likely it looks in the trailer — but it’s not a “White Lotus” finale without a twist.

2. Harper

All it took was one episode for Harper to move from our most likely killer to a prime victim. If she does die, it’ll likely be at Cam’s hands rather than Ethan’s, or an accident as things escalate between the men or the group at large. She’s certainly exacting psychological revenge on Ethan for the time being, but at what cost?

3. Portia (Haley Lu Richardson)

Portia is currently stranded miles from anyone she knows with a man who she knows very little. She doesn’t know the truth of Jack (Leo Woodall) and Quentin’s (Tom Hollander) relationship, but Jack is also not likely to remember how much he did or didn’t say to her while drunk. Even in the Episode 7 previews, Portia is still trying to get back and hasn’t actually reunited with Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge). Do you feel alive yet, Portia?

4. Tanya

Tanya is the show’s main connective tissue between seasons besides the White Lotus hotels themselves, but the writers might kill her to pull out that rug and add uncertainty to potential future seasons. It’s obvious that Quentin and his cohort are using her, but will this ostensible financial grift go awry to the tune of murder? Her current saving grace (and Portia’s) is that she’s not actually at the White Lotus Sicily, where the bodies are found in Episode 1.

5. Lucia (Simona Tabasco)

Statistically, murder odds do not look good for a young, solitary sex worker. She presents a liability for multiple men in the season, and the easiest way to cover their tracks or solve one of their many problems is to take her out of the picture.

6. Mia (Beatrice Grannó)

No longer attached at the hip to Lucia, Mia has her own machinations at work, and she’s tangled herself up with the most powerful person at the White Lotus Sicily: Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore).

7. Bert (F. Murray Abraham)

No disrespect to Nonno who is mostly minding his own business — he’s just old and more likely to not recover from any physical injury, like the concussion he sustains in Episode 1. He also loves to the stir the pot, especially with his son, who is inches from a meltdown (more on that below).

7. Isabella (Eleonora Romandini)

It would be deeply uncool of Valentina to murder her employee just for being engaged to a man, but it’s not impossible.

Most Likely To Kill

Michael Imperioli, Simona Tabasco, and Beatrice Grannò in “The White Lotus” - Credit: Courtesy of HBO
Michael Imperioli, Simona Tabasco, and Beatrice Grannò in “The White Lotus” - Credit: Courtesy of HBO

Courtesy of HBO

1. Ethan

A lot of “White Lotus” Season 2 hints at the threat of supposedly nice men snapping to reveal something more sinister, and Harper’s husband is one of them, now unmoored by their vacation dynamic. He wouldn’t kill her on purpose, but he’s directing his anger and confusion at Cam after their turbulent history as friends.

2. Jack (Leo Woodall)

Jack clearly kept Portia away from Tanya and the party throughout Episode 6, and when he’s drunk he mentions having to do things he didn’t want to for Quentin. This could refer to their sexual relationship, but it could also refer to anything else, including hit jobs and cover ups.

3. Valentina

The White Lotus is Valentina’s turf, and if anyone could get away with murder on the property it’s probably the person with the master key who knows every room inside and out. Valentina might maintain a steely exterior but she wears her emotions on her sleeve. Impacciatore described her encounter with Mia in Episode 6 as “epiphanic,” so who knows what new Valentina is capable of? It would also be a clever twist on “The White Lotus” Season 1’s ending.

4. Dominic

Dom has been trying his darnedest to avoid “a situation” with Lucia and his family, and he’s been successful in that he didn’t sleep with her, but unsuccessful in that his son did. Dom keeps his cool in tense situations, but he gives the impression of someone hanging on by a very thin thread — and as of Episode 6, even Bert thinks that thread is fraying.

5. Quentin

A rich powerful white man who could totally get away with it? Now there’s someone who might not lose sleep over murder. Quentin is in financial trouble, somehow connected to Tanya’s husband, and probably keen to keep his relationship with Jack secret given how vocal they are about being uncle and nephew. He may not be the one to physically get his hands dirty with the act, but Quentin is highly capable of killing.

6. Greg

Greg allegedly left Sicily, so he’s got an alibi, but he’s been keeping secrets from Tanya, including his connection to Quentin. Did Greg enlist Quentin and his friends to swindle money from Tanya, since Greg has a prenup? Will she die as a direct or accidental result of his schemes?

7. Albie

The Episode 7 preview shows Dom finally calling Albie out on his feminist savior complex. It might be the breaking point in a season’s worth of building father-son tension, but is it enough to drive him to murder? If Albie’s killing anyone, it’s the man who he thinks is threatening Lucia — and anyone else who gets between the two of them.

“The White Lotus” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

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