HBOHBO has already confirmed The White Lotus Season 4, but it will be missing one key member of the production: the composer who wrote the show’s iconic themes.
The Season 3 finale airs this weekend, and there’s still a lot to answer; will Timothy off himself in bloody fashion as he keeps on imagining, will Piper stay in Thailand with Lochlan, will Saxon confront Lochlan about that night on the boat, and who will die by the time the credits roll?
Whatever happens, it won’t be our last night at a White Lotus resort. Season 4 has been given the green light, with Mike White already developing the next story.
Alas, while it’s guaranteed to feature a different cast (with the possibility of a returning face; fingers crossed that Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda doesn’t bite the dust), it won’t feature the music of Cristóbal Tapia de Veer.
The White Lotus composer won’t return for Season 4 after “creative disagreements”
Tapia de Veer has worked on every season of The White Lotus, winning three Emmys, including one for his Season 1 theme. Unfortunately, he won’t be composing the title theme for Season 4.
His Season 2 theme is still the best, listen to it below:
“I feel like this was, you know, a rock ’n’ roll band story. I was like, ‘OK, this is like a rock band I’ve been in before where the guitar player doesn’t understand the singer at all,’” he told The New York Times.
“It’s kind of weird right now because I announced to the team a few months ago that I was not coming back, that I was leaving.
“I didn’t tell Mike for various reasons; I wanted to tell him just at the end for the shock and whatever. Except I told the whole editorial team and music editor and producer and all that, but I didn’t think that they were going to tell him. At some point he heard about that.”
Tapia de Veer spoke about his disagreements with White in each season of the series; for example, White had a different vision for the Season 1 theme, and when the composer wanted to release a longer version of Season 3’s theme “with the ooh-loo-loo-loos… he wasn’t happy about that.”
“I mean, at that point, we already had our last fight forever, I think. So he was just saying no to anything. So I just uploaded that to my YouTube,” he said.
“Maybe I was being unprofessional, and for sure Mike feels that I was always unprofessional to him because I didn’t give him what he wanted. But what I gave him did this, you know – did those Emmys, people going crazy.
“I treasure that more than something else I did that was just a success, and it works and that’s that, with less struggle. This was a good struggle.”
It’s fair to say, fans aren’t happy about Tapia de Veer’s exit, given his music is embedded in the DNA of the series. “The White Lotus music is so iconic. We lost, badly,” one user wrote.
“AINT NO F**KING WAY WTF, THEY WERE MAKING BANGERS,” another wrote. “Fascinating interview… Once again proving the importance of sticking to your creative guns and the struggles that goes into creating great things,” a third added.
“Just cancel the show then, cause his score is one of the best parts of the show,” a fourth wrote.
In the meantime, check out our rundown of new TV shows on Netflix this month, TV shows you cannot miss in 2025, and our list of the best TV shows of all time.
