"The White Lotus" Creator Explained Why They Decided To Kill Off [Spoiler] In The Season 2 Finale

🚨 There are obviously MASSIVE — and I mean MASSIVE — spoilers ahead for The White Lotus Season 2! 🚨

The White Lotus just finished Season 2, and I'm going to be honest, I ended up liking this season more than Season 1.

Just like last season, the big mystery of The White Lotus Season 2 focused on which characters would die by the end of their trip after the first scene featured Daphne (Meghann Fahy) swimming and finding a dead body.

There were SO many theories around who would die by the time the season finale finished, and in the end it was honestly more wild and chaotic than I could've imagined.

After figuring out that Quentin (Tom Hollander) and his friends were plotting to kill her and that Quentin knew Greg (Jon Gries), Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) was trapped on a yacht trying desperately to escape.

In an epic moment, Tanya swiped Niccolo's gun, stumbled out of the bedroom, and started shooting, thus killing Quentin and most of his friends.

Then, it was up to Tanya to try and escape the yacht and make it back to The White Lotus hotel. However, she ended up slipping, falling, and hitting her head while trying to get into a boat.

The season ended with Tanya drowning and being the body that Daphne found in Episode 1. It's a heartbreaking conclusion for everyone's favorite The White Lotus character, and it's sad to know we won't get Jennifer as Tanya in Season 3.

Following the conclusion of the Season 2 finale, creator Mike White sat down with HBO to unpack everything that went down in the finale, including the decision behind killing Tanya.

Mike began by saying the inspiration behind Tanya's character arc in Season 2 actually came from the conversation she has with Greg in the final episode of Season 1.

From there, Mike thought it would be great to bring back Tanya for Season 2 and explore this character's "journey to death."

He explained, "I was thinking it would be so fun to bring Tanya back because she's such a great character, but maybe that's the journey for her, is like a journey to death."

"Not that I really wanted to kill Tanya because I love her as a character and obviously love Jennifer, but it just felt like we're going to Italy. She's such a diva, larger-than-life female archetype," he said. "It just felt like we could devise our own operatic conclusion to Tanya's life and her story."

In terms of how Tanya was going to die, Mike said that he never wanted her to be killed by another character. He liked the idea of Tanya getting her revenge and then dying in a very mundane and accidental way.

"I just think her dying at the hands of someone else felt too tragic," Mike began. "It felt like she needed to give her best fight back and that she, in a way, had some kind of victory over whoever was conspiring to get rid of her."

He continued, saying, "It just made me laugh to think that she would take out all of these cabal of killers and that, after she successfully does that, she dies this derpy death. It just felt like that's just so Tanya."

As far as what happens next for Tanya's storyline, considering Greg is still out there and he'll now get a lot of money because of the prenup and Tanya's death, Mike gave a few ways the story could play out in Season 3.

"I think as far as what happens to Greg and the conspiracy of Tanya's death, it's possible that I think Portia is scared enough to just leave it alone," Mike said.

"But the fact that all of those guys die on the boat, it feels like there’s gotta be somebody who's gonna track it down to Greg."

He concluded, saying, "But maybe you’ll have to wait to find out what happens."

You can watch Mike's entire conversation with HBO about The White Lotus Season 2 finale below:

What did you think of The White Lotus Season 2? Tell us everything in the comments below!