White Lotus S2 Character Decoder

The Hook

White Lotus Season 2 moved the show from Hawaii to Sicily, swapped vacation anxiety for marital dread, and replaced the question “Who dies?” with the far more uncomfortable question: “Whose marriage would you rather have?” The answer reveals more about you than any therapy session. Here’s your diagnostic guide to every character—and the person at your next dinner party who’s already living their storyline.

The Sullivans: The Couple You Envy Until You Don’t

Cameron Sullivan (Theo James)

Cameron is the most honest person at the resort because he never pretends to be good. His appetites are obvious. His charm is weaponized. His moral code is whatever gets him through the next 20 minutes without consequences. You’ve met him at the sharehouse in Montauk—the guy who shows up with a bottle of rosé that costs more than your rent, makes everyone laugh for three hours, and leaves with someone else’s girlfriend. The scary part? Everyone’s still happy to see him next weekend.

Daphne Sullivan (Meghann Fahy)

Daphne is the season’s chess player disguised as a pawn. Her smile never slips, her Instagram feed aspirational. The response to her husband’s infidelity isn’t confrontation—it’s strategy.

She knows about Cameron. She’s simply decided that maintaining the architecture of the marriage is worth more than the satisfaction of burning it down. You know Daphne. She’s the woman at the charity luncheon whose life looks effortless and whose composure is, in fact, the most expensive thing she owns.

The Di Grassos: Three Generations, One Flaw

Bert Di Grasso (F. Murray Abraham)

Bert is the grandfather who flirts with the waitress while his family pretends not to notice. His entitlement isn’t malicious. It’s generational—baked so deeply into his worldview that he genuinely can’t understand why anyone would object. You’ve sat next to him at the Italian restaurant in Sag Harbor. He ordered for the table, told a story about “the old country” that was 40% true, and left a tip so big the server forgave everything.

Dominic Di Grasso (Michael Imperioli)

Dominic is guilt without reformation. He knows his infidelity destroyed his marriage, that his son has lost respect for him. All of this registers clearly, and yet the knowing doesn’t change the behavior—it just makes the apologies more eloquent. In the Hamptons, Dominic is the entertainment executive at the fundraiser who gives a moving speech about family values while his assistant blocks calls from his wife. He’s not a villain. He’s something worse: a man who’s converted self-awareness into a performance instead of a correction.

Albie Di Grasso (Adam DiMarco)

Albie is the most insidious character of the season because he’s disguised as the hero. His performative sensitivity—his determination to be “the good one” in a family of flawed men—is its own form of entitlement. He doesn’t pursue Lucia out of genuine connection. He pursues her to prove a thesis about himself. You’ve met Albie at every sharehouse barbecue. He’s the guy who read one book about feminism and now corrects everyone’s language while simultaneously not noticing that he talks over every woman at the table.

The Returning Champion

Tanya McQuoid-Hunt (Jennifer Coolidge)

In Season 2, Tanya is still wealthy, still desperate for connection, and now married to a man whose affection feels increasingly transactional. Her arc in Sicily—befriending a group of English expats who may be plotting against her—is the show’s most operatic storyline. Tanya is the woman at the Parrish Art Museum gala who bought an entire table, invited strangers, and spent the evening wondering why genuine connection keeps eluding her despite all the resources she throws at it. Her Season 2 fate is the show’s most devastating statement about what happens when wealth can’t protect you from the people it attracts.

The Italian Contingent

Lucia (Simona Tabasco)

Lucia is the only person at the resort who understands the real exchange rate. While the wealthy guests pretend their transactions are relationships, Lucia names the price out loud. Accordingly, that transparency makes the guests uncomfortable—not because they object to the transaction, but because naming it disrupts the fiction that their own relationships operate on different terms. She’s the local who serves your table at the North Fork vineyard and knows more about the wine, the property values, and the social dynamics of the room than any guest present.

Mia (Beatrice Grannò)

Mia wants to be a singer, and she’s willing to use whatever leverage is available to make it happen. Her pragmatism is neither admirable nor condemnable—it’s simply the logical response to an economy where access is the only currency that compounds. She’s the aspiring artist at the Hamptons gallery opening who knows exactly which collector to charm and exactly how much charm is required.

Quentin (Tom Hollander)

Quentin is the most dangerous person in Sicily because he’s the most cultivated. His taste is impeccable, his manners flawless. The friendship with Tanya appears genuine until you realize it’s architecture.

He’s the English gentleman at the Bridgehampton cocktail party who makes you feel like the most interesting person in the room—right up until you discover why he was so interested.

The Social Life Angle

Season 2’s couples represent the two dominant marriage strategies in any affluent social scene: the Sullivans, who maintain the facade at any cost, and the Di Grassos, who let the damage show and call it authenticity. Both approaches are survival mechanisms. Neither one works, exactly. But one looks better on Instagram, which—as any Hamptons dinner guest can tell you—is frequently the point.

The Verdict

White Lotus Season 2 gave us a cast of characters so precisely calibrated that they function as relationship diagnostics. Share this with your partner and watch which couple they identify with. Then watch which couple they say they’d rather be. The gap between those two answers is either the beginning of a great conversation or the reason you need a therapist. Possibly both.