Grab your passport and a blunt instrument in case of emergency – it’s time to check into the White Lotus again. The endlessly surprising comedy-mystery-drama series that focuses on a group of disparate strangers checking into a different branch of the White Lotus hotel resort – super-luxurious, yet dogged by tragic happenings – returns this week.

       And after a slew of awards and a career-defining performance by American actress Jennifer Coolidge as brassy heiress Tanya McQuoid, anticipation for the new series couldn’t be greater.

       Some of Hollywood’s hottest new names appeared in the first two seasons set among the sandy white beaches of tropical Hawaii and Sicily – Leo Woodall, Sydney Sweeney, Theo James and Aubrey Plaza among them.

       This time we’re off to Thailand to perhaps the most stunning resort yet: an oasis of polished wood, turquoise pools and sink-into chairs facing jaw-dropping views. It stays fabulous when the cameras stop rolling as the series was shot at the Four Seasons Resort, Koh Samui, set on 43 acres above the pristine clear waters off the Gulf of Thailand.

       Why Thailand? Simple, says the HBO show’s creator, writer and director, Mike White – it was the right destination for the White Lotus’s delicious mix of dark secrets and black comedy.

       “I felt like we had to focus on something new, to give the show a new place to go with different kinds of stories, and Thailand is a very complex country,” he says.

       “It’s a Buddhist country where there are a lot of Buddhist concepts that I thought it would be interesting to explore because I thought it would be cool to do something about spirituality – and yet, there’s also a different culture in Thailand that has some chaos to it.”

       Without Tanya McQuoid’s iconic presence, it’s not only the setting that could be chaotic. Mike admits a gaping hole had been left by the death of Jennifer Coolidge’s self-absorbed character, and he had to think long and hard about how to replace her… until he came up with the inspiration of revisiting the character of Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda, the sweet-spirited spa manager of the White Lotus on Maui, whose dream of owning her own wellness centre was dashed by that same Tanya in the first season.

       “Obviously we were sad that Jennifer died in the last season, and there was the question of how we keep her alive in some way in this. And then I had the idea that maybe by bringing Belinda back we could do that.

       “I think people were bummed by Belinda’s final moments in the first season, where everybody else is off to other things, and she’s stuck still working at the hotel.

       “Working with Natasha on the first season was like a dream because she’s the best, so I thought maybe it would be fun to give Belinda another chapter now.

       Natasha herself adds that she didn’t think twice when asked to return.

       “He was in town for the Emmys and he wanted to go out to dinner, and I didn’t think anything of it. He was, like, ‘I’m still making season two but I’m already thinking about season three and I think I might want to bring Belinda back.’

       “I was just, like, ‘Say less! I’ll be there!’ And then sure enough he followed up. He called me and said, ‘She’s really back,’ and I was, like, ‘Let me get my passport and some breathable clothes together – let’s go.’”

       It was Natasha’s first time in Thailand and she says that one of the things that struck her most forcefully was the sense of peace, which she attributes to the country’s unusually tranquil history.

       “I had spent a year in Tokyo in my 20s but I’d never been to Thailand before,” she explains. “One of the first things I learned when I was there was that Thailand has never been colonised by anyone else.

       “This had a really powerful effect because when you’re working in a country that isn’t constantly trying to heal itself from an

       historical trauma, you feel that lightness that that brings, you feel that acceptance, you feel that peace. It was really wonderful to be there and experience that.”

       British actor Jason Isaacs, rocking a southern American accent as North Carolina business mogul Timothy Ratliff, agrees that there is in the Thai character a certain sweetness that he finds particularly attractive.

       “Inside the resort, people would be kind and gracious and at first I wondered if that was all part of the hospitality,” he says. “But actually the Thai national character is that everyone is like that.

       “There is something gentle and non-confrontational and kind about the way Thai people engage with each other, and also with us, that reminded me of being in India – it’s the same sort of feeling.”

       Parker Posey, playing Timothy’s wife Victoria, adds: “Thailand is such a hospitable, gracious, simple, pure, spiritual kingdom. I’d never been to Asia before, and there was so much to take in with the beauty of Thailand. It was so exotic it made us laugh at the sheer scale.”

       She stops and chuckles, thinking of the absurdly over-privileged couple she and Jason are playing: “At least, it did us actors. For the characters in the show, it could be anywhere. Victoria thinks she’s in Taiwan.

       For the shoot, the cast all stayed in the resort – which, for Patrick Schwarzenegger, playing Timothy and Victoria’s oldest son, Saxon, represented a level of luxury that even a Schwarzenegger had never dreamed of before.

       “I have never ever in my life,” he says firmly, “experienced the level of luxury we did when shooting this show. It was, like, mind-boggling and it has completely ruined our standards for other hotels for time evermore.”

       White Lotus isn’t White Lotus without some nudity, and Patrick – son of legendary muscleman actor and ex-California governor Arnold – says that he approached his own scenes without too much perturbation.

       “Mike always loves to push the envelope,” he shrugs. “It’s different when it’s a director you don’t know or don’t trust but I’ve seen what Mike has done with it in the past seasons, and I trust him.”

       He does add, however, that watching it with his parents, Arnold and Maria Shriver, will be a different matter.

       “The whole family is coming to the premiere, and they’re super excited. That’s OK because it’ll be episode one, which is pretty safe, but when it gets to episodes five and six… well, let’s say there will be some times when I’ll take some bathroom breaks.”

       When Mike approached the Four Seasons at Koh Samui, an exclusive retreat with 60 villas and about 15 private residences, where average prices run above $1,500 per day, the property did not take long to agree to filming.

       After all, the Four Seasons, Taormina – where season two was filmed – has seen its popularity soar since the show aired, with holidaymakers flocking there specifically to experience the luxury first hand, while taking selfies at the scenes of Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya-type exploits.

       The branch on the island of Koh Samui is already preparing itself for the onslaught, with a selection of three special White Lotus-themed cocktails at the bar to be unveiled with the premiere of the show.

       The highlight is undoubtedly the Coconut Paradise, consisting of vodka, soda water and a cordial of toasted coconut and pandan.

       Explaining why Thailand works perfectly as a backdrop for the gently satirical show, Mike says its two main attractions for tourists offers a conflict that inspired the writing.

       He explains: “[Thailand] has all the temples and all the spiritual dimensions some Westerners go looking for, but then it also has the other side that other Westerners like – you hear about Bangkok and the wild nights that people have there. So it felt like a great canvas to explore those themes because people tell you they go there for one or the other – or even a mixture of both.”

       Mike also said that he found the resort on Koh Samui the perfect setting for the new season – with its sheltered location and wooded surroundings, he has said that while staying there, he found “the eyes of the jungle” on him.

       Today he adds that he also found a different set of eyes – those of the monkeys who roam the trees surrounding the buildings.

       “I’ve always been fascinated by monkeys,” he says. “It’s not my own original take, but we are kind of monkeys, after all! There are wild monkeys in Thailand and it happened that that hotel where we were shooting does have a lot of monkeys.

       “Customarily, they used to use monkeys to harvest the coconuts, so as well as the real monkeys they have monkey statues all through the property, so that became a motif that was fun to explore.”

       He adds that the real monkeys we will see in episodes of the show are the actual animals living around the property.

       “There were no trained monkeys used at all: we just went out with a second camera and shot them – we literally just captured them in situ. They were really beautiful – and let me tell you, they really showed up for us.

       “You put a camera on them and they’re dancing and posing – they were ready to have their moment!”

       Having established the four-legged characters, now it’s all down to the humans to see if the flower will blossom for a third time.