Laura Dern Replacing Helena Bonham Carter

EXCLUSIVE: The White Lotus has filled its unexpected vacancy, and series creator Mike White did not look far to do it. Oscar winner Laura Dern, a longtime collaborator and friend of White’s, has joined Season 4 of his HBO series set in France. She replaces Helena Bonham Carter who left late last week.

Dern will play a new character, which is being developed and written for her by White. HBO said at the time of Carter’s exit that after filming had gotten underway on the new season the previous week, “it had become apparent” that the character created by White for Carter “did not align once on set.”

With the role believed to be central to the Season 4 story, a decision was made to rework and recast it, with Dern quickly emerging as a top choice.

This will mark the latest collaboration between Dern and White, who worked together on the 2007 film Year of the Dog, written and directed by White and starring Dern, and the HBO’s 2011-13 series Enlightened, which the two co-created and Dern starred in.

Dern is not a complete stranger to The White Lotus. She did an uncredited voice cameo in Season 2 of the murder mystery as Abby, the estranged wife of Dominic Di Grasso (Michael Imperioli).

White and Dern triggered speculation when they were seen talking over smoothies in Los Angeles last July, around the time White was starting location scouting for Season 4. Reactions to the paparazzi photos at the time included a fan commenting, “Manifesting White Lotus Season 4.” It took more than nine months, but that eventually happened.

The White Lotus Season 4 follows a new group of White Lotus hotel guests and employees over a week during the Cannes Film Festival. Dern joins the rest of the cast for the new installment, which includes Vincent Cassel, Steve Coogan, Caleb Jonte Edwards, Dylan Ennis, Corentin Fila, Ari Graynor, Marissa Long, Alexander Ludwig, Chris Messina, AJ Michalka, Kumail Nanjiani and Nadia Tereszkiewicz. Additional cast includes Chloe Bennet, Sandra Bernhard, Heather Graham, Max Greenfield, Frida Gustavsson, Charlie Hall, Jarrad Paul, Rosie Perez, Ben Schnetzer and Laura Smet.

Written and directed by series creator White, Season 4 is executive produced by White, David Bernad and Mark Kamine. It has continued production on the French Riviera, with things moved around to accommodate the recasting.

The hotels featured in the new season are Airelles Château de la Messardière in Saint-Tropez as the White Lotus du Cap and the Hôtel Martinez as the White Lotus Cannes. Filming locations include Cannes, St. Tropez, and Monaco. Filming will also take place in Paris, though the story will remain along the Côte d’Azur.

The White Lotus extends Dern’s history with HBO. It includes Big Little Lies, which earned her Emmy and Golden Globe wins, as well as Recount and Enlightened, which both landed her Golden Globe awards and Emmy nominations.

Dern is coming off movies Jay Kelly and Is This Thing On? and the Apple TV series Palm Royale, which she executive produced and starred in. She next will be seen in Molly Gordon’s film Peaked. Dern is repped by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.