"This show is not for everyone" — Internet reacts to White Lotus creator Mike White comparing the show's world building to "edging"

Actor and producer-director of The White Lotus, Mike White, addressed audience opinions regarding the show's latest season during an episode of the show’s official podcast on April 7, 2025.

Mike White mentioned that the world-building process in the show was similar to "edging." He elaborated:

“I’m edging you. You know it’s like enjoy the edgy. Like you don’t wanna be edge, get out of my bed. This is like don’t be a bossy bottom or get the f**k outta my bag though I don’t come home with me, don’t get naked in my bed, get the f**k out of my bag.”

Additionally, Mike addressed complaints he had received about the new installment's plot and pacing, saying that the criticism sounded very strange to him. He further stated:

“It’s like, pardon me, is just like bro, this is the vibe, like, I’m world building, you know, I mean this is like, you’re like, you know if you don’t want to go to bed with me, get out of my bed.”

As Mike White’s comments began trending across various platforms, netizens took to the comments section of a post shared by Pop Crave on X to share their reactions. One user seemingly claimed that The White Lotus might not be a good show for all kinds of viewers and wrote:

“This show is not for everyone.”

Several others continued sharing their opinions about the third season, with one individual urging Mike White to accept that the show was not up to the mark.

“It wasn’t more boring than the first 2 seasons, it’s a talky show with bookends of violence bc it doesn’t trust itself,” a user wrote on X.

“Just admit your show isn’t any good,” a netizen stated.

“It was so boring I stopped watching after the 4th episode. I couldn’t keep wasting my time,” an X user mentioned.

Meanwhile, some netizens supported the show's latest season by praising it.

“This was my favorite season. I hated season 2,” one of the reactions reads.

“I binged it in 2 days and loved it. I hate weekly release,” another netizen commented.

“I Love this season,” an X user reacted.

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Mike White opens up on a scene he removed from the finale

The final episode of the new season grabbed a lot of attention for its runtime, which was close to 90 minutes. While a fourth season was confirmed in January this year, Mike White spoke up about a scene that was ultimately removed from the last episode of season 3 of the HBO series.

White revealed that it was a sequence where Piper lost her virginity after getting intimate with Zion. The Despicable Me 4 star said that the scene was included in the script and explained:

“There’s this whole scene where she’s like, ‘It’s true. Saxon is right about this one thing. I need to get this over with.’ And you know how after she leaves the monastery she’s just like, ‘I need to have s*x.’ But in the end, it was one of these things where it was like, it’s already an hour and a half. It would have added 10 minutes to the thing.”

Mike White mentioned that he was “trying to do too much narratively” with the planned scene. He referred to the sequence by saying that it could have added the elements of romantic comedy to the main premise of the third season.

The White Lotus premiered in 2021 and was followed by a second season the following year. The lead cast has included popular faces such as Murray Bartlett, Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, and more.