'Parks and Recreation' Alum to Star in New Season of Hit HBO Series
The all-star cast for The White Lotus Season 2 continues to grow, and the show's latest addition seems like perfect casting. Aubrey Plaza, best known for playing April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation, earned a lead role in the new season. The Sopranos star Michael Imperioli joined the show last week.
Plaza was cast as Harper Spiller, a woman on vacation with her husband and his friends, reports Deadline. Imperioli will star as Dominic Di Grasso, who is traveling with his elderly father and his son, who recently graduated from college. Jennifer Coolidge, who played Tanya McQuoid in Season 1, is rumored to be returning, but HBO has not confirmed that yet.
The White Lotus was a surprise hit for HBO and HBO Max last summer. It was written, directed, and created by Mike White (Enlightened) and tracked a group of visitors to the White Lotus resort in Hawaii. The series was initially envisioned as a limited series, but it was renewed for a second season just before the Season 1 finale aired in August. Other members of the Season 1 cast included Murray Bartlett, Connie Britton, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Lacy, Brittany O'Grady, Sydney Sweeney, Steve Zahn, Natasha Rothwell and Fred Hechinger.
The second season will be set at a different White Lotus resort and will track a new group of vacationers. White is returning as writer, director, and executive producer. David Bernard and Mark Kamine are also executive producers. "I don't think you can credibly have [all the Season 1 guests] on the same vacation again," White said of Season 2 in a TVLine interview before the show was renewed. "But maybe it could be a Marvel universe type thing, where some of them would come back. We only made one-year deals with the actors... So we'd have to find out who is even available."
Plaza gained attention as a performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade before she became a star as April Ludgate on Parks and Recreation. She starred on the show's entire run, from 2009 to 2015. Her other credits include Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Safety Not Guaranteed, Monsters University, Dirty Grandpa, Black Bear, Ingrid Goes West and FX's X-Men series Legion. Her upcoming projects include Guy Ritchie's Operation Fortune: Ruse De Guerre, which opens on March 18; and Emily the Criminal, which is set to debut during the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Plaza also has a part in Hulu's Olga Dies Dreaming, which she is also a co-producer on.