The White Lotus' Murray Bartlett Wants to Check Back in for an Armond Origin Story

Following his episode of The Last of Us, Murray Bartlett discussed the possibility of returning to Mike White's The White Lotus for a prequel.

By JD Knapp Jan 31, 2023 4:40 PMTags
Watch: The White Lotus Season 3: EVERYTHING We Know

We certainly wouldn't turn this down.

Murray Bartlett may be earning critical acclaim for his recent appearance on The Last of Us, but the actor still isn't quite ready to move on from The White Lotus. In fact, despite his character Armond meeting his end in the pineapple suite during season one, Bartlett is ready to check back in. And he knows just the way to do it.

"When we were shooting White Lotus, the night before we started shooting, we had this big dinner," the Looking actor explained on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Jan. 30, "and Mike White, the creator, writer, director, extraordinaire of White Lotus, made a speech and said, sort of jokingly, that whoever was the nicest person and the best actor gets a spinoff series."

Bartlett continued, "He said—and I'm not going to hold him to this—but he said, 'We could always go back in time.' So, I think maybe like an Armond origin story? I'm just throwing that out there."

The 51-year-old won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his work on the first season of the hit show. Meanwhile, his co-star and fellow winner Jennifer Coolidge did end up reprising her role of Tanya in the second season.

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Secrets From the First Two Seasons of The White Lotus

While it's unlikely Bartlett will show up in the already-confirmed third season when the show returns, White did tease that somewhere in Asia could be the next setting after Hawaii and Sicily.

Evans Vestal Ward/NBC

"The first season kind of highlighted money, and then the second season is sex," he explained in an HBO video following the season two finale. "I think the third season would be maybe a satirical and funny look at death and Eastern religion and spirituality. It feels like it could be a rich tapestry to do another round at White Lotus."

But until then, seasons one and two of The White Lotus are available to stream on HBO Max.

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