The White Lotus Officially Adds Helena Bonham Carter And Chris Messina To Season 4 Cast — Here's Everything We Know So Far

The rooms are starting to fill up at "The White Lotus."

Helena Bonham Carter and Chris Messina have officially joined the Season 4 cast of HBO's luxury vacation dramedy, TVLine has confirmed. (No character details have been released.) Newcomer Marissa Long has been added to the cast as well.

Bonham Carter is best known for her film work in movies like "A Room With a View," "Fight Club," and "The King's Speech," as well as her collaborations with director and longtime partner Tim Burton. She also played Princess Margaret in two seasons of Netflix's "The Crown," earning a pair of Emmy nominations.

Messina starred opposite Mindy Kaling as love interest Danny Castellano on the Fox/Hulu comedy "The Mindy Project." He also had memorable supporting roles on "The Newsroom," "Six Feet Under," and "Damages." He recently co-starred with Kaley Cuoco on Peacock's "Based on a True Story." 

"The White Lotus" was renewed for a fourth season last January, a month before Season 3 began airing. It's a good thing they made their reservations early, too: The third season earned the best ratings for the series so far, with 6.2 million total viewers tuning in for the Season 3 finale, a 51% improvement over the Season 2 ender.

As soon as the season ended, we started speculating right away about where the show will head next and who might be joining the cast. (Plus, we know that series creator Mike White likes to bring back a character or two from previous seasons every year.) So what do we know for sure about Season 4 so far? Allow us to be your concierge on this journey.

Here, we've collected all the information we have on Season 4, including casting, location, plot details and more. We'll continue to update this page as additional news trickles in, but in the meantime, scroll down to review everything we know so far.

It's an anthology, so every season is different, following a new set of hotel guests as they spend a week at a luxurious hotel in the fictional White Lotus chain. Season 1, which aired in 2021, was set in Hawaii, with a cast that included Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Sydney Sweeney, Jake Lacy, Alexandra Daddario, Murray Bartlett, and Natasha Rothwell. Coolidge reprised her role as Tanya McQuoid in Season 2, set in Italy, joined by Michael Imperioli, Aubrey Plaza, Theo James, Meghann Fahy, Haley Lu Richardson, Leo Woodall, and more. In Season 3, set in Thailand, Rothwell returned as spa manager Belinda and Jon Gries returned as Tanya's husband Greg, along with new cast additions Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Carrie Coon, Michelle Monaghan, Leslie Bibb, Walton Goggins, Aimee Lou Wood, and more.

Again, this show is an anthology, so previous seasons won't have much bearing on what happens in Season 4. But some storylines do tend to carry over, so for the record: In the Season 3 finale, Rick and his girlfriend Chelsea were shot dead after Rick shot the man he thought murdered his father — who turned out to actually be his father. Plus: Timothy nearly killed his whole family with poisoned smoothies, but thought better of it at the last minute, so the family returned home to face Timothy's financial downfall; female friends Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie buried the hatchet and reached a new understanding; and Belinda accepted a $5 million payout from Greg to stay quiet about his whereabouts. (For more details, check out our full finale recap.)

The upcoming fourth season will film in France, HBO has confirmed, and "will follow a new group of White Lotus hotel guests and employees over the span of a week." This will put the luxury hotel dramedy back in Europe for the second time, after Season 2 took place on the Italian island of Sicily. Season 1 was set in Hawaii, while Season 3 was set in Thailand.

The move to France follows Mike White's previous hints that he wanted to move away from the sun-dappled tropical locations. "For the fourth season, I want to get a little bit out of the 'crashing waves against rocks' vernacular," he teased in a post-finale interview.

Alexander Ludwig and AJ Michalka were the first to officially join the Season 4 cast. Ludwig previously played Björn Ironside on History's "Vikings" and starred opposite Stephen Amell on the Starz wrestling drama "Heels." Michalka played Erica's friend Lainey on the long-running ABC sitcom "The Goldbergs" and reprised the role on the spin-off "Schooled." 

U.K. comedian Steve Coogan, best known for his bumbling broadcaster alter ego Alan Partridge, later joined the cast, along with newcomer Caleb Jonte Edwards, who has just an episode of the Australian crime drama "Black Snow" to his credit. And now they're joined by Bonham Carter, Messina, and Long.

There's also no word yet on which characters from previous seasons might be returning this time around. But when we do hear any additional casting news, we'll be sure to share it here.

No, HBO hasn't announced a premiere date yet for Season 4. But when they do, we'll be certain to mark our calendars.

No, we haven't seen any footage from Season 4 of "The White Lotus" yet. But we'll add any teaser or trailer HBO releases here as soon as it drops, so be sure to check back here for updates.