10 TV Series Similar to White Lotus That You Should Watch in the Future.
The next season of HBO’s controversial, schadenfreude-filled dramedy White Lotus doesn’t premiere until October, so you’ll have to wait a few more months to see the adventures of an all-new all-star cast (Helena Bonham Carter! Heather Graham! Rosie Perez! Sandra Bernhardt!) as they journey to paradise and face murder, mystery, and the inevitable consequences of their own greed. In the meantime, here are 10 more shows about rich people getting what they deserve (or don’t) in picturesque locations.
The Perfect Couple (2024)
While the cast includes names like Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, and Dakota Fanning, the real star of The Perfect Couple is Donna Lynne Champlin as Nikki Henry, a police detective who has no idea what she’s getting herself into when she arrives at a wealthy Massachusetts island community to investigate the discovery of a dead body on the beach. The beach adjoins a luxurious mansion where a society wedding is taking place, featuring the most smug rich people you’ve ever seen on TV. Kidman plays writer Greer Garrison Winbury, the groom’s mother. She harbors icy contempt for her future daughter-in-law, who committed the unforgivable sin of growing up poor. As in White Lotus , the murder reveals secrets and fractures within the seemingly “perfect” family.Watch The Perfect Couple on Netflix.
Resort (2022)
Starring Cristin Milioti and William Jackson Harper (from The Good Place ), this film plays a bit like a romantic drama based on White Lotus —the premise and setting are similar, but it focuses much more on relationships than social status. A couple celebrating their tenth anniversary arrives at a luxury resort in the Yucatan, but all is not as happy as it seems. Their marriage is quietly crumbling, but a young woman who disappeared 15 years ago may be the one who brings them back together. The detective story intertwines the couple’s own secrets and the shady history of the resort itself; eventually, events take an even stranger turn than anything we encountered in White Lotus . Watch Resort on Peacock .
Nine Perfect Strangers (2021 – )
Nicole Kidman returns, this time as Masha Dmitrichenko, manager of the luxurious wellness resort Tranquillum House. The nine strangers mentioned in the title (each season features a different all-star cast—sound familiar?) arrive hoping for a cure, but get much more than they bargained for from the generally kind, yet enigmatic Masha. For starters, she secretly drugs them, and her therapeutic program involves digging her own grave. It’s pretty crazy, but no one said personal growth was easy. Watch Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu.
Return (2005–)
While this series features far fewer murders and is considerably funnier than White Lotus , it’s another show about naive rich people who live their lives relatively peacefully, only occasionally realizing how fragile their self-esteem is when it’s tied solely to money and status. Lisa Kudrow gives a brilliant performance as actress of a certain age, Valerie Cherish, who, over three seasons spanning two decades, plotted one comeback after another. Her utter shamelessness in pursuing greater fame is both admirable and embarrassing, even as the show makes clear the different challenges women face in maintaining relevance. This is awkward comedy at its best. Watch The Comeback on HBO Max .
Big Little Lies (2017–)
Like White Lotus , part of Big Little Lies’s charm lies in watching very rich, very attractive, mostly white women navigate adversity in beautiful places (in this case, Monterey, California). And, like White Lotus , any threat to the status quo can lead to big drama, at least as much as small differences in perceived wealth. In the first season, five women (played by Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, and Zoë Kravitz) find themselves embroiled in a murder investigation tied to a school fundraiser that threatens to bring their entire personal lives to light—and there are plenty of secrets to uncover. Watch Big Little Lies on HBO Max .
Billions (2016–2023)
Billions isn’t as edgy as White Lotus , but it’s still a thoroughly engaging series. Paul Giamatti plays the rather ruthless U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (partially based on the real-life Preet Bharara), who tries to bring down shady hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis). The show’s tone is darkly comic, and it stays fresh across seven seasons thanks to the contrast between Axelrod’s willingness to use all his money and power to stay on top and stay out of jail, and Rhoades’s willingness to resort to questionable, less-than-legal methods to land his big fish. Watch Billions on Paramount+ and Prime Video .
Enlightened (2011–2013)
Before White Lotus, Mike White and star Laura Dern created this beloved, if short-lived, comedy-drama about a middle-aged woman who suffers a complete breakdown after being demoted from the job to which she has dedicated her life. After a two-month stay at a holistic therapy center, Amy Jellicoe (Dern) decides to take a fresh look at life, focusing on meditation and positive changes at work and home. The results are mixed, but there’s also a wonderful sense that, while change is absurd and difficult, it is entirely possible (in the sense that the show is arguably far less cynical than White’s subsequent series). Watch Enlightened on HBO Max .
Mine (2021)
South Korean television producers have no problem criticizing the super-rich, especially the plutocratic chaebol families that control a huge portion of the country’s economy. The series “Mine” centers on women vying for control of the massive fictional Hyewon Group of Companies from their family’s luxurious (and incredibly photogenic) apartment complex. The plans of two increasingly powerful women married into the family, Hee-soo and Seo-hyun, are derailed when a new housekeeper becomes romantically involved with one of the male heirs, and a new tutor seems poised to uncover long-held family secrets. It’s a Dynasty- style soap opera, but one that isn’t particularly invested in its wealthy characters, and one with a self-mocking streak that leads to moments of dark humor as various family members vie for power.Watch “Mine” on Netflix .
Prisoner (1967–1968)
Want a beautifully set series that explores questions of identity and authoritarianism in a capitalist context? Fifty years later , The Prisoner remains one of the most vividly realized dystopias on television—set in a vibrant, pop-art-inspired village that actually looks like a great getaway. Creator and director Patrick McGoohan stars as Number Six, who resigned from his government job due to his conscience. Apparently knowing too much, he loses consciousness and finds himself in the remote, inaccessible “Village,” full of other people with numbers and no names. The Village has every amenity one could wish for, and most are quite content—but the rebellious Number Six can’t appreciate the luxurious surroundings, which feel like a gilded cage. This surreal, psychedelic series culminates in a gripping finale when the mystery of his true whereabouts and motives is revealed, and presents one of the most compelling arguments against the corrosive effects of consumer culture and conformity on the soul. Watch The Prisoner on Prime Video and Tubi.
Your Friends and Neighbors (2025 – )
In Friends & Neighbors , Jon Hamm plays Andrew “Coop” Cooper, a recently divorced and unemployed New York City hedge fund manager. Trying to create the illusion that nothing has changed in his life, he begins breaking into the homes of his wealthy neighbors to steal and sell their belongings, unwittingly revealing their secrets. This dark comedy isn’t exactly about the hardships of being a formerly rich white guy, but it’s also not a cautionary tale about the decline of toxic masculinity—Coop is an insider forced to play the role of an outsider (while playing an insider), giving him a unique perspective on the artificiality underlying a life predicated on the display of wealth. Watch Friends & Neighbors on Apple TV .