The pair have been in talks for appearances on the fourth season of Mike White’s seriocomic look at the vacation lives of the rich and miserable for a minute apiece, but have now signed on in an official capacity. They’ll be joined on the series by Marissa Long, an influencer and model with zero acting roles listed on IMDB. (Not that there’s anything especially new about The White Lotus throwing together Oscar nominees with unknowns to see what comes out of the mix.)
The three new cast members join a White Lotus roster that’s steadily shoring itself up as the fourth season slowly comes together, with previous cast additions including Steve Coogan, Alexander Ludwig, Caleb Jonte Edwards, and AJ Michalka. (They also cast the hotel, which is big news for the kind of person who has strong opinions about French luxury hotels, confirming that this season will ditch more tropical locales in favor of Gallic mayhem.)
Carter has been a regular presence on TV in recent years, having most recently small-screened it up in Netflix’s 2026 Agatha Christie adaptation Seven Dials. (Her longest recent stint on TV was her multi-season turn as Princess Margaret in The Crown.) Messina, meanwhile, is still relatively fresh off his recent Peacock true crime riff Based On A True Story.
There’s no word yet on when season 4 of The White Lotus is expected to land on HBO, although reports suggest filming won’t even begin until April of this year. (We’re not saying it’s all at the whims of how long White manages to last on that new season of Survivor he’s competing in, but if some other Survivor 50 contestants could do us all a favor and vote him off early to get things rolling sooner, we certainly wouldn’t mind.)
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