Incroyable! The White Lotus season four sets its main cast, including French star Vincent Cassel

If you’re going to have a group of Americans upset the French in the next season of The White Lotus, you best have some formidable locals who can serve back.

The White Lotus is nothing if not good at taking stereotypes and then making it bigger. So American tourists versus the French? You love to see it.

French star Vincent Cassel leads the local charge and like everyone else we don’t know who he’s playing, although speculation is rife that he’s likely to take the role of the hotel manager.

Cassel is one of France’s most high-profile actors and was recently in The Three Musketeers two-part epic.

But he’s also familiar to international audiences having appeared in many US and UK films, notably as The Jackal in Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13, as well as Jason Bourne, A Dangerous Method, Black Swan and Elizabeth. On TV, he has featured in Westworld and Liaison.

Cassel will be joined by compatriots Corentin Fila and Nadia Tereszkiewicz.

The ensemble cast for Mike White’s venture into France is very much rounding out before filming kicks off reportedly at the end of April.

The guest list checking in for the next luxurious but deadly holiday also includes Steve Coogan and Helena Bonham Carter, who are, presumably, playing Brits - and we all know the centuries-long mutual fondness between the English and the French. Vraiment!

Coogan and Bonham Carter both have range, but you know they’re particularly good at playing snippy and passive-aggressive, so, whatever White has in mind for them, you can just picture the pair slotting in very well into the White Lotus universe.

There’s also Chris Messina, from The Mindy Project, Sharp Objects, Damages, The Newsroom and Based on a True Story on the small screen, and Air, Birds of Prey and Julie and Julia on the big one.

Plus, yours, mine and everyone’s favourite, Sandra Bernhard. The rest of the announced cast include AJ Michalka, Caleb Jonte Edwards, Ari Gaynor, Marissa Long, Alexander Ludwig and Dylan Ennis.

With more than a dozen names in the ensemble already, that feels like White has set his main cast, but there could still be room for a couple more surprises, including whether there will be any returning faces.

Jennifer Coolidge popped up in both the first and second seasons, and after her character, Tanya McQuoid, was (spoiler alert) killed off, White brought Natasha Rothwell back for the third season.

The most obvious recruit would be Parker Posey, who was a clear fan favourite from the Thailand series. She had the best one-liners, including this zinger, “I don’t even have my lorazepam, I’m going to have to drink myself to sleep”.

But the challenge would be to contrive a scenario in which her character, Victoria Ratliff, would find herself at a ritzy resort in France when we last saw her coming to terms with (spoiler alert) the family losing all their money. But, as she said, “I just don’t think at this age, I’m meant to live an uncomfortable life”.

One of the key reasons why The White Lotus has been so popular among audiences is White’s ability to assemble an alchemic mix of personalities in his cast.

The fourth season’s primary filming location will be the Chateau de La Messardierre in Saint-Tropez, a glamorous spot along the French Riviera. The palatial Chateau is set among 13 hectares of nature overlooking the Mediterranean, and the rates reportedly can cost up to $35,000 a night for its most opulent residence.

This is the first time The White Lotus has not filmed at a Four Seasons, which it did in Maui, Sicily and Koh Samui.

The series is expected to return in 2027.