Steve Coogan has said he landed a role in The White Lotus in part because creator Mike White is a big fan of 24 Hour Party People.
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In January, it emerged that Coogan had joined the cast for the fourth season of the hit HBO drama series, which is relocating to the south of France and the Cannes Film Festival for its latest run.
While attending the BAFTA TV Awards today (May 10), where he picked up the prize for Actor in a Comedy for How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge), Coogan revealed to Deadline that one of the key reasons that White – who writes and serves as showrunner on The White Lotus – cast him was due to his admiration of Coogan’s turn as Factory Records impresario Tony Wilson in 24 Hour Party People.
The cult 2002 film documented the rise of the Manchester music scene in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, charting Wilson’s transition from local news reporter to co-founder of the highly influential label. Directed by Michael Winterbottom and written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, it dramatised the punk and post-punk era, culminating with the ‘Madchester’ acid house scene revolving around the Hacienda.
Coogan told the publication that White was a declared fan of the film, and also admired Coogan’s role in Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee And Cigarettes (2003). The Alan Partridge star said in return that he has long been an admirer of White’s work, dating back to the 2000 comedy drama Chuck & Buck.
“I always thought I’d love to work with him,” Coogan said.
Talking about working on The White Lotus, he added: “I think I’ve slotted right in. I’m really enjoying it. He’s quite collaborative. He lets you embellish and improvise, and I’m in my comfort zone.”
The next season of The White Lotus is expected to premiere on HBO at some point in 2027. Each run is set in a different branch of the titular chain of luxury hotels, introducing an almost entirely new cast each time around.
Joining Coogan in the season four will be Laura Dern, who has been drafted in as a last-minute replacement for Helena Bonham Carter, who left the project just days into shooting. An HBO spokesperson said that White and Bonham Carter “did not align once on set”.
Others in the new cast include Kumail Nanjiani and New Girl star Max Greenfield.
NME awarded season three of The White Lotus four stars, writing: “A little sweetness definitely helps to balance out the prevailing saltiness. As the season progresses, the sneaky intricacy of White’s plotting begins to yield surreal, shocking and genuinely hilarious moments. No one can write a scene where one character pretends not to remember another quite as exquisitely as White. Tanya may be gone, but this transgressive soap opera remains unique and completely jaw-dropping.”
It was also named as one of NME’s best television shows of 2025.
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