Warning: This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus season three.

If you’ve been watching The White Lotus since its very beginning, you’ll be well aware by now that nothing makes it into the show by accident.

Season three of the award-winning anthology series has been its biggest and most ambitious to date, not just in terms of its massive ensemble cast, enviable locations and some of the most outrageous sequences the show has ever attempted, but also in terms of how jam-packed with Easter eggs and blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em hidden details it’s been.

With the finale now looming – and fans trying to read between the lines as much as possible to try and work out the show’s biggest mystery – we’ve rounded up some of our favourite subtle details from season three of The White Lotus that might have passed you by…

You can’t fail to have spotted that monkeys are a recurring motif throughout the current series.

From the simian pals swinging from the trees as they watch over everything going on at the hotel (even one of the first shots of the whole show was a monkey, in case you’d forgotten) to the many statues adorning the resort and guests’ rooms, they’re absolutely everywhere.

But as well as the more blatant references, you might well have missed some of the smaller nods to our primate pals, including in the form of jewellery worn by Lek Patravadi in episode six or the more subtle monkeys that appear in the opening titles.

Mike White teased long before the premiere that season three of The White Lotus would be about Eastern spirituality, with several references across the first six episodes to the idea of the “monkey mind”, a Buddhist concept relating to a chaotic, restless state that stands in the way of true enlightenment.

Given quite how many of season three’s guests could be described as being in this particular mindstate, the visual barrage of monkeys could be intended as a reminder of just how far away the characters are from reaching the next state of their spiritual development.

But others have speculated there could be something more literal at play – with one fan theory even suggesting that a particularly zealous monkey could be responsible for the shooting in the finale.

This wouldn’t be beyond the realm of possibility – particularly given that monkeys have been known to steal things from Thai tourists from time to time (and much as we’re rooting for him, it wouldn’t be the first time Gaitok’s firearm had got away from him) – were it not for the fact that cast member Michelle Monaghan has already dispelled this suggestion.

“What? The monkeys do the shooting? Man, y’all have lost it,” she insisted to InStyle.

Even as far back as the first White Lotus trailer being unveiled, people couldn’t help but pick up on parallels between the Ratliff siblings and the idea of the “three wise monkeys”, particularly after they were spotted in the below formation.

The “three wise monkeys” refers to an iconic East Asian emblem for the proverb “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”, with each of the figures typically covering either their eyes, ears or mouth (as Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook and Sam Nivola could be seen doing on the boat in episode one).

Notably, the “three wise monkeys” maxim is considered in traditional Buddhism to refer to avoiding evil thoughts, while in the West, it’s more commonly interpreted to be about turning a blind eye to evil. These differing meanings also play into Mike White’s suggestion that season three of his Emmy-winning series would explore what happens when Eastern spirituality is co-opted and appropriated by Westerners.

At the time, fans began speculating that there could be some big twists coming up that the Ratliffs might not want to acknowledge – which has certainly proved to be the case in recent episodes.

Statues and ornaments honouring the “three wise monkeys” have also been featured heavily throughout the series, suggesting it’s not just the Ratliffs who have baggage they don’t want to address.

“Bad luck comes in threes,” Chelsea has repeatedly warned Rick over the course of the series – but threes are actually everywhere you look in The White Lotus.

From the three “long-time” friends checking in together to the three Ratliff siblings, the more you look for threes in the show, the more you notice them.

For instance, in the fifth instalment, the American friends were joined by three Russians, which was the same episode that ended in that jaw-dropping threesome. Oh, and then there’s the fact that this is season three, too.

Some viewers over on Reddit have even suggested that this could be a teaser for the finale ending in three death. Fans on the forum have also been pointing out other notable instances of the number “three” – including the three marks of existence in Buddhism, and the fact that Tim Ratliff stashed the stolen gun in a drawer that was the third along and third down in the hotel room chest.

Snakes have been featured prominently throughout the series, with Chelsea’s attack at a cobra show in episode three being preceded by her being entranced by some serpentine jewellery in the previous instalment.

Later down the line, Kate, Laurie and Jaclyn encounter Vlad, who has an elaborate tattoo that also depicts a snake.

Similarly, Crocodiles appear next to several actors’ names in the season three opening titles, too, as well as on the shirt that Lochlan wears on the yacht where everything changes for the Ratliff brothers (sidenote: we can’t be the only ones who’ve been bombarded with that shirt on Instagram adverts ever since, right?).

But they aren’t the only scene-stealing reptiles.

Some fans on Reddit speculating that Belinda’s frequent encounters with lizards around the resort could be either an omen of bad luck, or even a message from beyond the grave. Could Tanya be trying to warn her about Greg?

Jennifer Coolidge’s character might be gone, but she’s certainly not forgotten.

In fact, as numerous Reddit users have pointed out, way back in season one, she told Belinda that she’d had a dream she was at the “top of a beautiful mountain” somewhere in Asia – and had a “cyanide pill”.

Now, we’re not saying that Mike White deliberately plonked Greg’s house – the setting of a massive showdown in the final instalments of the series – at the top of a Thai mountain to make Tanya out to be some class of clairvoyant… but it’s feasible he thought it would be a fun little throwback for more observant viewers to pick up on.

As for that cyanide pill, remember in episode one when Pam warned the Ratliffs about those poisonous berries around the resort? It’s been a long time since those were mentioned, hasn’t it…?

Eagle-eyed viewers might have noticed that when Belinda smiles at a couple in the White Lotus restaurant in episode one, they weren’t just any hotel guests.

In fact, they were Natalie Cole and Carl Boudreaux – who previously competed alongside Mike White on a special season of Survivor back in 2018.

Natalie told Entertainment Weekly that even though she and the Emmy winner had beef on the show, they buried the hatchet later down the line.

“I ran into him at Natalia [Azoqa, another Survivor campmate]’s wedding and he did everything but look at me,” Natalie recalled.

“When we finally caught each other’s eyes, I waved at him, and oh my god, he ran across the room and threw himself into a hug with me and said, ‘I thought you were mad at me!’ And I said, ’No, when I first came off [the show] I was, but it’s a game, and I recognise that, and I’m cool.”

She also revealed that while she was initially due to be a non-speaking part, he later gave her some lines to say.

“It was just going to be a cameo, and then when we talked again, he sent me some lines,” she explained.

“And it was quite a few lines, and then when we got there, he increased the lines even more. I found that pretty interesting, that we went from the cameo to me having several lines, and I thought I was going to be in one episode, and then it went to two episodes.”

You might have spotted another Survivor cameo in episode five, when Christian Hubicki appeared in the background during the trio of American friends’ night out.

When Tim Ratliff gets a panicked phone call from his former business partner Kenny, some viewers immediately noticed that his voice was none other than Ke Huy Quan, the American actor who won an Oscar for his role in Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Entrepreneur and public speaker Scott Galloway also provided the voice for Tim’s lawyer later in the series, as his situation continued to circle the drain.

As soon as it was discovered that Patrick Schwarzenegger and Parker Posey would be playing members of a family from Durham, North Carolina with the surname Ratliff, true crime fans’ ears pricked up.

That’s because the name Ratliff was notably featured in another hit HBO show, the true crime adaptation The Staircase.

In the show, Patrick played the son of Colin Firth’s character, Michael Peterson, while Parker played the Durham county prosecutor who was determined to find him guilty of murdering his wife.

The original documentary The Staircase (which was adapted into a drama of the same name in 2022) focussed on Peterson, a writer who was initially convicted of murdering his wife Kathleen, only for the charge to be reduced to manslaughter seven years later after he submitted an Alford plea, after which he was freed.

Back in season two, Tanya was seen wearing a replica of a dress worn by an ill-fated character in The Godfather shortly before she met her own watery end.

So, when Belinda made reference to another gangster movie starring Al Pacino, Scarface, as she tucked into breakfast with her son, some viewers’ ears pricked up.

One fan on Reddit even pointed out that at the same time as Belinda’s Scarface line, a woman with a blonde bob could be seen walking past, hammering home the nods to the classic movie.

All we can pray is that Belinda isn’t the one to meet a similar fate to Tanya…

With the biggest cast to date, the opening title sequence in season three of The White Lotus could well hold more clues about the different characters.

For example, Leslie Bibb’s name kicks things off, appearing with an image of three elephants in close proximity to one another, while her co-stars Carrie Coon and Michelle Monaghan are named next to figures of topless women.

As the titles continue, Walton Goggins is listed next to a hidden, solitary figure, followed by Sarah Catherine Hook next to someone meditating, followed by Jason Isaacs, seemingly represented by someone tangled in a tree surrounded by knives, with a black bird perched on his shoulder (potentially referencing the dark places his character goes on as the series unfolds).

Special mention has to go to Parker Posey, whose name appears next to a smoking monkey, and Natasha Rothwell, who appears next to a bird gazing at its own reflection, apparently unaware it’s being preyed on by a crocodile, which… hmmm… doesn’t sound great when you put it like that, does it?

Interestingly, as the series has continued, Sam Rockwell’s name has been added next to this crocodile (though it’s worth pointing out that the actors are listed alphabetically, so this could just be coincidence).

Fans had already picked up on the fact that Sam Nivola’s name was listed next to a figure floating in water – leading some to speculate that Lochlan could be the body found in the fountain at the end of the series.

In fact, references to Lochlan and water are numerous.

For starters, he opted for a float in a sensory deprivation tank while his family each had their individual treatments, and he also had his heart-to-heart with sister Piper in hammocks over the sea in that same episode, and has an apparent fascination with tsunamis.

Of course, his big moment in the series came later down on, while he and his brother partied on a yacht in the middle of the ocean.

And even his name has a watery connection, as it’s Gaelic for “from the land of lakes”.

The White Lotus continues on Mondays in the UK on Now and Sky.