‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Murder Watch: A Ranking of the Most-Likely Killers and Victims

As the person who discovers a dead body and is terrified by distant gunshots, it’s almost guaranteed that Zion is as innocent as he is beautiful. That said, wouldn’t it be a fun twist to find he’s not so blameless as it may seem? We shall see…

The only scenario in which I would have believed Belinda capable of murder is if someone was coming after her son. And given that she and Zion are not together when the shooting occurs, I find it highly unlikely she’s involved. On the flip side, if Belinda ends up dead I will riot in the streets.

Like Belinda, Pornchai just seems super chill and unlikely to be involved in any drama. If anything, I hope he and Belinda have a sexy “will they/won’t they” storyline instead of being anywhere near death.

Not much is known about Mook right now. Gaitok has an obvious crush on her, so I assume she’s sweet and smart in addition to being gorgeous. I haven’t seen enough to make any strong predictions here, but if forced I’d say she stays out of the drama just enough to never really be a suspect for either murderer or victim.

Sweet Gaitok just wants to lead a lovely life with the woman of his dreams, Mook. At the end of episode one, he doesn’t have enough going on to feel like a leading contender for murderer or victim. However he is the only character who we know carries a gun on him. I’d give him a 93 percent chance of being uninvolved in the incident.

Of the three blonde 40-somethings, Kate is definitely the most vapid. All of her thoughts are wrapped up in looking and acting the part of devoted wife to Dave (a man of unexplained power in Texas) to really notice much of what’s going on around her. She’s grown so accustomed to the performance of gratitude that she’s lost herself to it completely. It’s no longer an act. And for that reason I think she’ll be spared this season. Kate is definitely not a killer, nor does she seem an interesting victim. She’s simply fuel to be poured on Laurie’s simmering fire.

Chloe poses an interesting dilemma for me here. On the one hand, she seems to be a character set up specifically as a friend for Chelsea and a foil for her to say what’s on her mind in a way she would not with Rick. That makes Chloe vulnerable to winding up a victim. However, she’s also Greg’s new girlfriend, and if anyone deserves to be bumped off, it’s him, perhaps at the hands of his supposed lover? #justiceforjennifercoolidge

Greg feels a bit on the nose to be this season’s singular victim, but if there is more than one person who winds up dead then I think he’s a prime candidate. Truth be told, I think there’s little chance he leaves Season three unscathed, though he certainly won’t be the only one.

I could watch Parker Posey play a drugged up Southern mom every single day of the week. Presently, however, she is way too dosed to be in the running for committing murder, nor does she currently seem like a very interesting victim. But should her pill supplies run out, things may take a very different turn.

Episode one did not reveal much about the middle Ratliff child and reason for the family being in Thailand, other than a predilection for full-coverage frocks and a deep interest in and respect for Buddhism. She’s a tricky one to pin down by the end of the premiere. I can’t confidently count her out of the mayhem, nor do I feel comfortable putting her in the middle of it.

Jaclyn seems the most likely victim of Laurie’s rage, but I wouldn’t dismiss her as a becoming a perpetrator in her own right. It seems like she, Laurie and Kate aren’t really the BBFs they purport to be, so why would Jaclyn offer to cover the extensive costs for all of them to take a lavish trip to Thailand? What’s going on behind those empty comments that she’d “be happy to sleep in a tree, I’m just so happy we’re together”? Much like Piper, I’m not yet ready to put Jaclyn in any particular camp, but I’d be surprised if she’s fully innocent.

Poor Lochy is being torn every which way by all of his family members, at a time in his life when he’s likely struggling with plenty of other inner turmoil too. Being a senior in high school is not easy and literally no one is making it any easier for him. I fear that little Lochy’s trip to Thailand will not end well, though the possible ways in which he’ll inevitably devastate the audience remain abundant.

Chelsea’s bubbly demeanor should not be mistaken for naivete—this is a woman who knows how to handle things should she find herself in trouble. Yes, she did utter the line, “I’m gonna help you bring your joy back, even if it kills me,” but I think this is a red herring. If Chelsea is involved in the incident in any way, my money is on her being a killer, not a victim.

My first two thoughts five minutes into watching the premiere were “oh my gosh, Thailand is stunning” and “that’s a lot of gunfire. Like, a lot of gunfire.” I would not have suspected Sritala Hollinger would be involved in the murder at all, but that much gunfire made me wonder if her personal security team might have been involved in the incident. And her husband’s somewhat mysterious absence from the resort is also ringing alarm bells in my mind.

Patrick Schwarzenegger is brilliant in making us hate Saxon almost at first sight. He is a villain through and through, with his brazen comments about not just his own sex life but those around him too, including his brother and sister (gross). He seems a pretty solid contender for being involved in the incident in some way. At the very least, I predict he’ll leave this trip having been taken down several pegs.

Rick is so obviously a bad guy—he’s not allowed into Australia, for goodness sake—which is precisely why I think he’s far more likely to end up a victim than a murderer. He’s clearly come to The White Lotus resort to enact some nefarious scheme that almost certainly involves scamming Jim Hollinger (hence his anger up on learning Jim isn’t here). Rick is going to continue to generally piss off everyone around him, especially Timothy, but will it be enough to bring about his demise? Only time will tell.

The Ratliff patriarch is clearly under a lot of stress. He’s got some shady business doings happening back home and has been irked by Rick since the very first moments of the trip. This man is on edge. He’s got a smooth façade that’s already cracking and I feel very confident it will continue to break until the entire thing shatters—this is the same man who brought us Lucius Malfoy, after all. It may turn out to be a simple mental breakdown, but by the end of episode one he’s been set up as a really good bet for either the murderer or the victim.

Mark my words, one simply does not cast Carrie Coon in a bit role. There is a zero percent chance Laurie doesn’t have a violent outburst during this vacation. Maybe she screams at her insufferable “friends” while breaking untold number of vases, wine glasses and bottles of liquor. Or maybe she does something much, much worse. Either way, I guarantee Laurie is one to watch closely.