My theories about Season 3 of The White Lotus (Who dies)
So the newest season The White Lotus premiered a few days ago after being off air for a couple of years & we were immediately plunged into a new era of the show, no Jennifer Coolidge, no vocal trills in the opening and instead of arriving in the aftermath of the seasons murder, we were thrown into the thick of a shootout at the Thailand resort, everything we think we know about the show is thrown clear out the window.
I have a feeling one of the only similarities we are going to get from seasons before (other than Greg) is that we'll be dealing with multiple deaths and I'm going to talk you through who each of the unlucky guests/staff will bite the proverbial bullets.
Out of all the new guests, the Ratcliff family have been the characters who've attracted the most amount of attention, though not for the best of reasons: the Patriarch Tom has gotten himself into shady business dealings which are starting to catch up with him after a journalist called him for an interview about his company, Matriarch Victoria is a heavily sedated mess who doesn't have much of a spine and seems quite judgemental and let's not get started on their offspring!
Saxon, Piper & Lachlan take centre stage in my main theory, I think everyone has cottoned onto the 'Hear No, See No, Speak No' theory in their first shot of the series as each have formed a pose like the money forms in a respective manner. Saxon is mouthy, saying some really icky and weird things during his screen time about other women at the villa including his own sister, however Piper's Hear No and Lachlan's Speak No have not yet played out, but as time passes, they will be shown.
For Piper, I think her Hear No elements will be displayed as she begins to commit to converting to Buddhism (as shown in the weeks ahead trailer), she'll end up shut out her mothers protests but for Lachlan, I think his Speak No moment will be more serious. The indecisive Lachlan is the important piece of this story, he's always stuck between choices: Duke or Cal Tech, Temple or Pool etc. The way the characters are framed from his POV look very much like an angel and devil on the shoulder, he's always trying to appease both sides but eventually he's going to have to land on one overall choice.
'A few days before the show aired, I got a message from a friend who showed me a now deleted tweet about Saxon getting involved with his brother in some sort of satanic sex ritual, which also coincided with the same week I saw someone saying they'd seen six eps of the show in advance, it sounded very Riverdale esque, so I pushed it to the back of my mind. However, after seeing Saxon & Lachlan's interactions in the first episode, especially their bedroom scene, I realised this theory might end up happening, this show despite being an anthology, always has some hallmarks: full frontal in the premiere, a death at the end of the show & one controversial gay sex scene roughly halfway through or so. It wouldn't be a shock if Saxon & Lachlan have this scene this time around.
Something else about these scenes is that someone always watches on, and that brings me to Piper. Something I've noticed in both weeks ahead trailers is that there's a scene with her in the dead of night spotting something & then screaming. I think during this scene, she's going to see them going at it (it's worth noticing in the opening titles there's a painting of some men watching two naked women together, which could be a misdirect which leads to Piper finding Saxon & Lachlan or it could be what it says on the tin and Saxon & Lachlan watch two of the friends having a drunken one night stand). Anyway Piper freaks out and threatens to tell, which leads Saxon to plead with Lachlan to do something and making the most pivotal decision of his life, he tricks Piper into eating food laced with the juices of the Poong-Pong tree that Saxon noticed in the first ep, fatally poisoning his sister & pushes her into the lake. Piper will be the dead guest, the shooting won't be the cause like we all think it will but it could be pivotal later on.
Ultimately the Ratcliff's will end the season two down, Tom wheeled off due to his shady company dealings and Piper in a body bag, Victoria will be despondent, lifting her hand out for Lachlan to stroke like Piper used to, which he accepts, his other hand locked with Saxon's. Lachlan will never speak of what happened in Thailand, Saxon will never comprehend the awful things he's saying, so by Piper overhearing the brothers, she breaks her metaphor and thus pays the price.
As for the other guests/staff going down in the finale, I theorised Greg being shot way before the show came back, but I pushed it out of my mind like with Saxon & Lachlan as it seemed too fan servicy, but now that he is officially back, my theory is back on. I think he is planning on murdering his new girlfriend in a similar manner to how he offed Tonya last season, with the new manager Fabian as his new accomplice after Quentin died. I hope through their secret relationship, we see Greg open up a bit more about their partnership, as I though Arriverdverci lacked a scene of Greg finding out, so this could be the peek into Greg the viewers deserve. Ultimately I think the plan will backfire on both and both will end up catching bullets and while Fabian will die immediately, Greg will be clinging to life when Belinda finds him. The weeks ahead trailers have shown him fixating on her as someone who knows Tonya and when she voices her concerns to Fabian, he brushes her off, which is why I think they're partnered. He tries to get her to help him, but she's worked out what has happened to Tonya and decides instead to take his money so she can start her centre.
As for who is doing the shooting, it won't be a gang of thugs, nor will it be Tom, I think the one pulling the trigger is Gaitok, the hotel worker who has a strong friendship with Mook. Both the generic trailer and weeks ahead trailer have shown him being forced to step up as a security guard following multiple incidents, he mentions to Mook he doesn't want to hurt anyone but she encourages him to commit to his position. I think with him being somewhat privy to Tom's phone calls, he'll work out what's going on and try to detain him, leading to the first shot ringing out, we do know there's time between the first shot and the others, so my guess is Tom will be nicked in the leg or somewhere not fatally as Gaitok stares horrified, he'll panic & in that moment will inadvertently squeeze the trigger, sending more shots out, some of which will hit people either fatally or not.
Ultimately due to the deaths, Gaitok will be used as a scapegoat and Mook will benefit from it as she'll be appointed the new manager to close out the season, as we always go back to the location for the final shot. Sritala might get hit by a bullet but even if she doesn't, I think her experience with Rick will make her take a step back from public life, so Mook takes everything to close us out.