When Natasha Rothwell got the call from Mike White asking her to return to The White Lotus for its highly anticipated third season, she felt both excitement and a quiet pressure. Rothwell’s portrayal of spa manager Belinda in season one became one of the show’s most talked-about performances—understated and quietly devastating.
But this time, Rothwell knew she wasn’t just revisiting a familiar role. She was returning with more experience, more creative perspective, and, most importantly, more trust in herself.
“Playing Belinda at times was painful because it reminded me of that sort of unhealed version of myself that didn’t use her voice, didn’t speak up for her needs and her wants,” reveals Rothwell. “I have agency, and I think both characters have taught me that.”
That confidence wasn’t always second nature. Rothwell began her career in the writers’ room at Saturday Night Live, where she was one of the few Black women writing sketch comedy at the time. She later broke out as the loud and lovable Kelli Prenny on Issa Rae’s Insecure—a role she not only starred in but also helped shape from behind the scenes as a writer and story editor. That dual role—on both sides of the camera—became a hallmark of Rothwell’s career, culminating in her Emmy-nominated turn as Belinda in season one of The White Lotus.
In the time between seasons, Rothwell continued to expand her creative universe, writing, producing, and starring in her Hulu dramedy How To Die Alone, which follows a woman confronting her fears and redefining her life after a near-death experience. That project helped prepare her to return to Belinda with a new sense of clarity—and a deeper belief in her instincts.
“I’m looking at [the] script through the lens of a writer,” Rothwell shares, “and how best to service the story that [series creator Mike White] has written—and what can I offer Belinda that he can’t? And that’s the Black POV.”
In our conversation, Rothwell talks about finding out she would appear in Season three, the wisdom she shared with her castmates, her first thoughts when Nicholas Duvernay was cast as Belinda’s son Zion, and why reflecting on Belinda’s journey gives her chills.
AF: Do you remember that moment that you found out that Belinda would be returning for Season three?
Natasha Rothwell: Hearing about the return of Belinda happened in a couple of phases. Mike [White] was in town for the Emmys for season one, and we had grabbed dinner. He’s like, “You know, I’m shooting season two, but I’m already thinking about season three, and I think I might want to bring Belinda back. What would you think about that?” I told him I would love to come back, but I’m a writer as well, so I know nothing is real until pen hits the paper.
We finished our dinner, and I remember telling my team that Mike was flirting with the idea of bringing Belinda back. They got really excited and then, sure enough, he circled back around, and I couldn’t believe my luck that I got to do this once-in-a-lifetime project twice.
AF: Since you had the benefit of starring in season one of the show, what was something you took from that experience in the first season that you brought into season three and working with a new ensemble cast?
Rothwell: Oh, so much. It’s such a unique thing to be a part of a “White Lotus” production. It’s like theater camp. You’re on location, you’re working and living with your coworkers, and, especially in this season, you’re in such a homogeneous environment. You’re all expats and none of you speaks the native tongue, and you’re relying on each other more than most.
In Season one, we shot during the pandemic and pre-vaccination. We were literally forced into this hotel. I mean it’s, you know, a golden prison. It’s the Four Seasons, but it was unoccupied. It felt a little like playing in someone’s house without them knowing, and we weren’t permitted to leave the property. That uniquely prepared me, I think, for the Thai version of this experience, and I understood what it meant to be shooting under those circumstances.
I shared my wisdom with the castmates in season three that when you shoot the arrival scene, make sure you bring snacks, it’s going to be a tough day, and charge your devices [laugh]!
I was trying to be my best girl scout and help everyone understand what it would be like.
AF: The weather in Thailand can range from torrential downpours to immense humidity. What was your experience like during production?
Rothwell: I would not dream of tackling what the production team had to tackle with the inclement weather. We had takes ruined by elephant roars in the middle of the night, toads screaming, cicadas doing their mating calls. There was a lot of nature to contend with. But in terms of the heat, that was, I think, the most oppressive of all of them. I definitely evoked the Buddhist philosophy about the root of suffering. I had to consciously stop wanting it to be cooler. I was like, I can’t live in this pattern of disappointment every day when I wake up and realize it’s still hot. I had to just surrender to the heat.
AF: Once you give into it, then you acclimate more easily.
Rothwell: Resistance is futile.
AF: [laughs] I’m interested in the shooting schedule because there are so many threads within an episode. Was production filmed episodically, or were your scenes included within a block?
Rothwell: I wouldn’t even dare to suggest a rhyme or reason because when we would get torrential downpours, we would have to switch which scenes would get shot. COVID made its way through the set. I had it, Parker [Posey] had it. So then that changed the shoot schedule. I try to explain to people because they’re like, “Oh, when you weren’t shooting, you were just on vacation.” It was like, no, you’re on standby [laughs]. You could get called into action at any minute. There could be new pages that come through because they lost a location because of flooding or something. It’s not every day in front of a camera, but it’s every day being ready, and that’s a different kind of thing. It’s not as luxurious as having a day off and going to the beach. No, Belinda might have to show up and be sober, so I can’t have fun.
As much as they could, I think they tried to do things in a sequential order, but it was all location-based. You know, a lot of people don’t know that The White Lotus this season was a culmination of multiple properties. So, when we were at a specific property that we were using for the spa, I was up almost every day. Everything was kind of like we were at the whim of the elements. Literally.
AF: Belinda really goes through the motions after she recognizes Greg, but we also explore her life a bit more broadly. What was it like reading the scripts and seeing how Belinda resurfaces in “The White Lotus” world?
Rothwell: It’s such a joy to play Belinda because I do get to play the full spectrum of emotion with her. She has moments of hilarity with the monitor lizards. She has these moments of tenderness with Pornchai. She has these thriller moments with Greg. It’s an actor’s dream to be able to cycle through all of those things, and it also makes Belinda as a character feel really human and accessible for audiences because I’m screaming at the lizards, and they’re screaming at the lizard. They’re up about Gre,g and I’m up about Greg. There’s this really great dance that Belinda gets to do with the audience, which is unlike any character I’ve played.
AF: I was reading about how you were influential with Mike White, including the black couple at the dinner, and having Belinda look over to them and give a nod. I’m curious how else you were able to lend your voice in expanding Belinda’s world for the screen.
Rothwell: I am so lucky that Mike and I found each other. I feel like he’s such an amazing collaborator. And as an actor and a writer myself, I mean, we share so many of the same hyphenates. We’re both writers, we’re both actors, we’re directors, we’re producers, so we get to nerd out as writers together.
I’m not advocating for more stuff for Belinda. I’m looking at this script through the lens of a writer and how best to service the story that he’s written, and what can I offer Belinda that he can’t? And that’s the black POV. I had shared with him a story about traveling and seeing a black couple when I was abroad, and we just kind of walked towards each other, and it’s kind of like, “hey.. you’re here too!” There’s this moment,t and I was excited that Mike included that because it’s such a part of black travel when you are in homogenous environments and you see someone who looks like you. It’s not always a conversation, it can be just a look of I see you and it’s this lovely thing. I think all cultures share that recognition.
There are several moments in this season where Mike and I collaborated in that way, where I wanted to give him the gift of my perspective. I couldn’t do what he does at all, so anything I pitched him, he just made it better and made it Mike White. At no point was I typing scenes. It would be conversations we would have about moments, you know, and a good example is season one is when I’m on the phone with Zion, and Mike had written this amazing conversation, but tonally she spoke to him the same way she was speaking to other people.
I said, “Mike, black people, when we talk to each other, we talk a little bit differently than we do when we talk to white people.” And he was like, okay, yeah. So, we had this amazing code-switching moment where she’s on the phone and she’s able to talk freely, and we get to see a peek into her inner life. I’m just so grateful that he’s open to those conversations and that he’s excited.
AF: Nicholas Duvernay was cast in the role of Belinda’s son, Zion. Can you talk a bit about the casting process? Were you chemistry reading with other actors?
Rothwell: Mike texted me when they were casting, and he was asking me questions and sending me who they were thinking of casting. He sent me a picture of Nicholas, and I was like, “Oh, I think he would be great but it changes Belinda’s story a little bit.” It was that the actor’s biracial. That means Belinda has slept with a white man. It changes the story, and she’s definitely a young mother given the age of Nicholas. So, we were able to sort of work that in, and it worked into the psychology of everything I’d done before.
I learned of the casting with everyone else when I looked in the trades, and I saw who it was, and the only issue I had was, I mean, my son is very attractive [laughs], how do I handle this? This Oedipus moment ,where I’m like, my son is very attractive. I have to put on the acting hat. I never worked harder to be a mother than this show.
AF: There’s a beautiful moment in the eighth episode where they say I love you to each other before the shooting. What was that moment like to shoot that together and to express that compassion and love between a mother and son?
Rothwell: I’m childless by choice in real life, but I’ve always had a maternal side to me, especially, in my background, I used to be a teacher, and so I have a keen sort of intuition when it comes to sort of looking after someone else. It was so important for me, as Belinda, to not just see him as my son, but also my friend. She was a young mother, and so the lines were blurred, and they drank together, they argued, but at the end of the day, he respects her as his mother, and there’s a lot at stake.
I also think that his arrival in Thailand heightens everything with Greg because no longer is it just her in Greg’s cross hairs, but it’s Zion as well. There’s that sinister scene where Greg is looking at her Instagram and seeing pictures of her with Zion. You can see how Mama Bear has to kick in in that moment. Nicholas is such a great actor, and it was great to find those moments of just saying, I love you and connection throughout.
AF: I really loved your series, “How To Die Alone,” and noticed similarities between Belinda and Mel in that they were both trying to move into these new chapters of their lives, although in very different ways, and experiencing sharp turns. How has playing these women impacted you?
Rothwell: I mean, both have affected me profoundly. I had someone make the connection that Mel was trying to get to Maui and Belinda’s in Maui, and there is some sort of alternate universe where they’re both the same person [laughs].
Both women tell the story of agency and coming into their own power, and both women are allowing themself to be the hero of their own story and putting themselves first. I have lived a life where that wasn’t the case in a lot of ways, but thank God for therapy. You know, 20 plus years and counting, where I’ve learned that in my penchant for people pleasing, am I pleasing myself? Am I, oftentimes, caring for other people? Am I caring for myself, loving other people? Am I loving myself?
Playing Belinda at times was painful because it reminded me of that sort of unhealed version of myself that didn’t use her voice, didn’t speak up for her needs and her wants. I think that’s what makes the moment where she takes control of the negotiation with Greg so powerful, is that she’s like, “I’m not sitting in the backseat.” I’m going to take this because I deserve this,s and there’s this, like, I’m giving myself chills now just thinking about it, that she didn’t want to be taken on this journey that her son was leading. She was just like, I am in control. I have agency, and I think both characters have taught me that.