The White Lotus creator Mike White hallucinated season 3 story while sick in a Thailand hospital

Mike White's idea of a sick day is very different from yours.

When The White Lotus creator fell ill for days while scouting season 3 locations for his HBO vacation satire, he landed in the hospital. And while he was sick, he ended up hallucinating the entire plot for the Asian-set installment.

"I got really sick with bronchitis [while visiting Thailand to scout locations]," White told The Hollywood Reporter. "They put me on a nebulizer. It was like I’d smoked crack — not that I’ve smoked crack. For two days, I did not sleep. I was just lying in a hospital bed [in the city of Chiang Mai], trying to think about what the show was, and it came to me."

White Lotus producer David Bernad heard White's entire season 3 plot the next day. "I saw Mike the next morning, and he told me what he’d hallucinated," he said. "That’s basically what we shot."

According to White — who has also competed on reality TV shows The Amazing Race and Survivor — he never actually intended to make season 3 set in Thailand. But that trip changed everything. "Originally, I wanted to shoot in Japan," the showrunner said. "I was in Thailand when my dad and I got eliminated from The Amazing Race — two weeks in an elimination station with all these other bitter reality contestants, I was just like, 'I don’t ever want to come back here.' But HBO was really pushing it because Thailand had good tax incentives. As an artist, your knee-jerk reaction is, 'I’m not doing that!'"

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Bernad revealed they only "visited Thailand as a courtesy to HBO," but White's resulting stay in the hospital during the trip inspired the entire season 3 story, including the location and themes.

"I’ve dabbled in Buddhism, and Thailand worked for the themes that I was trying to get into," White explained. "The show is about identity and desire — and then there’s another part of me, the mischievous gay part, that’s just like, 'How do I create something that’s dirty and funny?' It’s amusing to me when people approach the show in this very literal way, like the show is about incest. I’m glad we found you, but you’re not really the audience."

Season 3 of the Emmy-winning HBO series is set at a White Lotus resort in Thailand, once again playing out over the course of one dramatic week for the guests and staff. This season's ensemble includes the wealthy Southern Ratliff family (Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sarah Catherine Hook, and Sam Nivola), a toxic trio of childhood friends who have drifted apart in their adult lives (Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, and Michelle Monaghan), returning season 1 staff member Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), seemingly mismatched couple Rick (Walton Goggins) and his younger girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood), and White Lotus staff members/fledgling couple Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong) and Mook (Lalisa Manobal).

As for how it all ends? Find out when The White Lotus season 3 finale airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.