'The White Lotus' Subtly References Old Films—Easter Eggs You Likely Missed

The White Lotus gave viewers plenty of hints about the feelings and fates of its main characters, through a clever homage to Italian cinema.

Filmed at the San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons Hotel in Taormina, Sicily, season two of The White Lotus does not fail to pay tribute to its stunning backdrop—from artwork to fashion and even the ubiquitous placement of the Testa di Moro vases that are seen throughout the Italian island.

But the show's creatives took things much further than props and costumes, by calling up some iconic moments in Italian cinema.

The White Lotus dropped clues throughout the season as to which character would be the one to die and also, gave that character one of her greatest wishes.

The Godfather Dress

Eagle-eyed fans spotted some similarities between Tanya McQuiod-Hunt's dress in the series finale and the one seen on a mannequin during the DiGrasso men's The Godfather sightseeing tour.

The three generations of the DiGrassos— and Portia who tagged along— lunched at the house seen in Francis Ford Coppola's film where Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) hides out for months after assassinating a rival and crooked cop. But it's while living there that his wife, Apollonia (Simonetta Stefanelli) is killed by a car bomb meant for him.

A replica of the car is parked amongst the al fresco diners at the tourist hotspot and a quick glimpse of the mannequin representing Apollonia shows it dressed in a yellow floral and pink dress.

Cut to the final episode of season two, when Tanya gets a sense of foreboding about Quentin as they get ready to leave his palazzo in Palermo to head back on his yacht to Taormina.

Fans watching the preview for the finale the week before noticed Tanya was wearing the same dress as the Apollonia mannequin and quickly realized she was likely the one to die by the end of the next episode.

The White Lotus costume designer Alex Bovaird said he was pleasantly shocked to see viewers paying such close attention.

"I was pretty surprised by the internet sleuths' ability to put things together," she told Page Six Style. "When I saw the Evan Ross Katz tweet showing Tanya's death dress on the Godfather dummy, I was very impressed."

The designer revealed that it "almost didn't happen," when the dress was accidentally sent back to the Italian capital.

"We were towards the end of the show, and it got sent back to Rome the previous night by mistake. Somebody had to catch a plane with it back in the early morning and it made it to camera," Bovaird said, adding, "Just your typical costume department mayhem."

L'Avventura

The White Lotus creator Mike White added a shot-by-shot homage to Italian filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni in the third episode.

Aubrey Plaza, who plays the uptight Harper, walks through the streets of Noto as more and more Italian men gather around her to leer in her direction.

Starting at the foot of the stairs of the Noto Cathedral, Harper seems confused and agitated in the scene which pays tribute to the 1960 film L'Avventura starring none other than Monica Vitti who has a significant impact on the show's second season.

White told Variety that the Italian film was a "very elliptical, mysterious movie about an existential psychodrama," and that episode was about "men and women and some of the classic sexual politics dynamics," so it seemed right to "lean into the archetypal Italian men coming onto a woman on the street."

"As someone who watched it young, I just was like, 'Is this what it's like in Italy? Are the guys like this there?' They're so blatant and aggressive with her, and there's this kind of menace in the air," White said.

The Monica Vitti Moment

In the second episode of The White Lotus' latest season, Tanya attempts to fulfill one of her greatest wishes—to live a day in the life of 1960s Italian film star Monica Vitti.

She dresses in some retro gear to replicate the iconic actress, including a silk scarf around her head and smoking a cigarette, before jumping onto the back of a silver Vespa not so expertly driven by her husband, Greg who is growing disinterested.

They make their way on the road along the coast, with Tanya declaring how happy she was with the day only for Greg to tell her he has to cut his time with her short to go back to Denver for business.

This ruins Tanya's dream day, but she would eventually get her Monica Vitti moment when fighting to save her life aboard Quentin's yacht.

Convinced he and his paramour Niccolo are going to kill her, she finds the latter's gun and starts raining fire.

But the shot of her aiming the gun perfectly resembles Monica Vitti in the 1970 film The Pacifist, in which she plays a journalist who is preparing a story on extremist youth and falls in love with a young radical who fears being killed by his companions. Tanya also feared her vacation companions were out to get her, echoing the famous film.

"Tanya DID get her Monica Vitti moment after all, just not in the way she expected. Jennifer Coolidge forever," tweeted user Liz Arcury pointing out similar shots.

Update 12/14/22, 5:10 a.m. ET: This article was updated with Aubrey Plaza's character name.