The trade reports that Dern quickly emerged as a favorite to fill the part, which makes sense given her history with White and the fact that the season had officially started production about two weeks ago. Dern and White created Enlightened together some 15 years ago, so they must have a kind of rapport that lends to creating a new character on the fly. Dern also briefly made a vocal appearance in the second season of The White Lotus, providing the voice of Michael Imperioli’s character’s wife on the phone. The two also worked together for White’s directorial debut, Year Of The Dog, in 2007.
According to a statement from HBO last week, “it had become apparent that the character which Mike White created for Helena Bonham Carter did not align once on set.” No real details have been offered about what that character was, but it has been confirmed that the season will take place amid the Cannes Film Festival, so perhaps Dern will play an actress. Based on the types of characters that normally stay at The White Lotus, we can reasonably guess that she’ll be a difficult one.