Our Final Theories on Who Dies in The White Lotus Season 3 Finale

Oh, Fabian. He just wants to be a singer! However, I could very much see him accidentally being caught in crossfire of whatever goes down in the finale.

Most convincing reason Fabian won’t die: The manager died in season one, so would Mike White really kill off another White Lotus manager?

Most convincing reason Fabian will die: Actor Christian Friedel is perhaps best known for his turn in the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest as Nazi Rudolph Höss. Do you really waste a talent like his on a very small role of an aspiring singer? I don’t know!!

In episode five, Chloe confesses to Chelsea that she’s worried Greg (Gary) has the capacity to kill her. “Gary might kill me. I honestly think he’s capable of it,” she says. Will this prediction come true in the finale?

Most convincing reason Chloe won’t die: Last season, it was also Greg’s lover (wife Tanya) who was killed. Would they repeat the storyline?

Most convincing reason Chloe will die: She seemingly predicted her own death early on.

Mook seems to be pushing Gaitok towards violence, but could she become an inadvertent victim?

Most convincing reason Mook won’t die: There’s really nothing to her arc, and it would be more tragic than cathartic.

Most convincing reason Mook will die: Kpop fans would definitely hate Mike White.

If Gaitok listens to Mook and decides to lean into violence, Valentin is definitely the man he’s going to confront (and possibly kill).

Most convincing reason Valentin won’t die: It doesn’t feel like his death would be cathartic, or sad for fans.

Most convincing reason Valentin will die: Perhaps there’s more deaths than the main one, and his involvement with the robbery puts him square in Gaitok’s sights.

I do not want Parker Posey’s Lorazepam-popping Southern mom to be one of the season’s victims, mainly because I need her back for a future season. However, viewers have already seen her die on screen multiple times, including when her husband fantasizes about killing her and when she walks into a tsunami in the third episode. Plus, she doesn’t want to live an “uncomfortable life,” and once the Ratliffs get their phones back... who knows what will happen when she learns about the financial disaster befalling her husband (and, by extension, her).

Most convincing reason Victoria won’t die: Posey said in a recent interview, “I forgot who died. It was so stressful when I read it. The dark stuff, I blazed through.”

Most convincing reason Victoria will die: Outside of Timothy, Victoria is the character whose death has been hinted at the most.

Timothy is clearly suicidal, and the preview for the finale shows Timothy asking Pam about the poisonous fruit. Will he finally succeed in ending his life?

Most convincing reason Timothy won’t die: It’s too obvious.

Most convincing reason Timothy will die: Sometimes the obvious answer is the right one.

One key corollary to the Timothy-kills-himself theories is that he tries to kill himself, and accidentally kills a family member. There’s been much discussion of Saxon’s blender, and with the hint that Timothy is going to try and drink the poisonous pong-pong fruit, what if Lochlan drinks from the blender in an effort to get back into the good graces of his older brother?

Another theory here is that Saxon, feeling really terrible about the incest, kills his brother. But that feels dark, even for The White Lotus!

Most convincing reason Lochlan won’t die: If anyone’s going to accidentally drink from the blender, it would be Saxon, not Lochlan.

Most convincing reason Lochlan will die: In the credits, Sam Nivola’s name appears with the floating lily pond—the dead body in episode one is found floating in a lily pond.

In the penultimate episode, Greg tries to bribe Belinda with $100,000 to keep her quiet about his new life in Thailand. Could karma finally catch up with him in the finale?

Most convincing reason Greg won’t die: Jon Gries has appeared in all three seasons of The White Lotus so far... and I’m not totally convinced anyone has motive to kill him, except maybe Chloe for his money. Also the viewers will “hate” the ending quote from Charlotte Le Bon—I don’t think anyone would hate to see Greg die.

Most convincing reason Greg will die: It would finally tie up the Tanya plotline.

Last episode, Saxon was deeply vulnerable with his dad, saying he didn’t have an identity outside of being Tim Ratliff’s son. Could Timothy, feeling so guilty, decide to take his son out with him?

Another theory on Saxon’s death has to do with Chloe: After he (and his brother) slept with Chloe during the Full Moon Party, Greg finds out. The following night, Chloe asks Saxon to sleep with her in front of Greg, but he declines. Could there be a more nefarious reason Greg wanted that tryst to happen?

Most convincing reason Saxon won’t die: According to one redditor, “Jason Isaacs posted and then deleted a picture of Mike White and the actors playing the Ratliff siblings in costume on a boat, wearing different clothes than when they arrived. Patrick (Saxon) is reading a Pema Chondron book, the same book Chelsea is reading earlier in the season...” Saxon, on a boat, leaving the White Lotus Thailand... he survives, perhaps. Or this was a fake-out photo!

Most convincing reason Saxon will die: He’s become much more likeable in the back half of the season, perhaps prompting the audience to feel sad over his death?

In the penultimate episode, Rick finally says he found closure with Jim, the man who he thinks murdered his father. However, after Rick lies to Sritala to gain access to her Bangkok home, then assaults Jim, it’s hard to think that he is totally in the clear here, especially since the Hollingers are seen to travel with armed bodyguards wherever they go.

There’s also the theory that Rick saves Chelsea from her third brush with death (more on that, below), and is the one to die.

Most convincing reason Rick won’t die: He seems to have just found happiness, would that really be ripped away from him?

Most convincing reason Rick will die: Much of the season focuses on spirituality and resisting violence, and Rick is the character that most clearly embodies those themes. To die after he finds peace, to me, feels like the “cathartic sad” White is discussing.

I’m on the record as Chelsea being my favorite character, and for that reason alone, I’m deeply worried for her. Bad things come in threes, she said, and so far we’ve seen her survive two near-death experiences: An armed robbery and a snakebite. What if Chelsea isn’t lucky enough to survive the third?

Aimee Lou Wood described the season finale as “profound” and “gut-wrenching,” which also gives me deep concern for Chelsea. “This particular death is very different to the other deaths,” she says. There’s also the whole necklace theory (read more, here).

Most convincing reason Chelsea won’t die: Almost everyone online is theorizing that Chelsea will die, and Mike White’s writing has never been predictable.

Most convincing reason Chelsea will die: Most of the theories online, and bad omens through the series revolve around Chelsea. And I return to Charlotte Le Bon saying “people are going to hate Mike White”: That has me convinced it’s Chelsea.

Gaitok, I’m so sorry, I think it’s your time to go. “I never want to hurt people,” he tells Mook in episode seven. “I will never feel good about that.” What if—and stick with me here—he leaves his convictions behind, and becomes a killer, and then suffers the consequences? It feels in line with the themes of the season.

Most convincing reason Gaitok won’t die: The theories could point him to being involved in the violence—not as the victim, but as the perpetrator. I can easily see Gaitok being the one to shoot (and possibly kill) someone.

Most convincing reason Gaitok will die: On the flip side, as the security guard of the hotel, he’ll be directly in the line of fire of the gunshots we heard in episode one.

I’m also here for this theory from the Ringer: “You can’t ignore the symbolism of Gaitok’s possible death. The security guard—a local and a cog in Thailand’s tourism industry—will very possibly be asked to sacrifice himself for the White Lotus’s wealthy guests, who represent both a key part of the country’s economy and the crime and other harms that tourists often bring with them.”