The White Lotus continues to be a ratings darling for HBO.
The award-winning series hit an all-time series high of 2.3 million viewers in the U.S. this past Sunday across HBO Max and linear broadcasts, according to Nielsen and first-party data.
Total premiere night viewing was up 28% vs. last Sunday, and up 23% compared to the prior series high of the Season 1 finale, which drew 1.9 million viewers in August 2021.
The first episode of Season 2 is tracking at 9.5 million viewers across all platforms, ahead of Season 1’s average of 9.3 million viewers per episode. Overall, The White Lotus ranks as the No.1 title on HBO Max for the fourth consecutive week, while hitting another all-time weekly high.
This week’s episode is attracting controversy over a nude sex scene between characters, Quentin (Tom Hollander) and Jack (Leo Woodall) who may or may not be uncle and nephew. When interviewed by Variety, showrunner Mike White said: “I just think transgressive sex is sexier. I guess I’m old school. There’s this Gothic vibe of walking through a haunted hotel or haunted house and people are having sex behind closed doors.”
The first season of White Lotus won 10 Emmy awards including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress (Jennifer Coolidge), Outstanding Supporting Actor (Murray Bartlett) and Outstanding Writing For a Limited Series (White).