IN 2015, NATASHA ROTHWELL took a trip to Ireland. “I was at some castle on some foggy hill,” she says. “There was not another Black person in sight. And then this Black family kind of emerges from the mist. A mom, dad, and two kids. I see them, we lock eyes, and I just walk up and hug them without speaking.” A version of her experience made the final cut of the first episode of HBO’s new season of The White Lotus, in which Rothwell reprises her Emmy-nominated role as Belinda, the spa manager who patiently endures Jennifer Coolidge’s needy antics on season one. Belinda travels to the titular resort in Thailand to participate in a wellness-traveling program. Dazed from her first day “cosplaying as a guest,” in Rothwell’s words, Belinda waves at an elegant Black couple sitting down to dinner. “When Black people see other Black people traveling, especially in spaces that are predominantly or historically white, it’s like this celebration that we’re here,” says Rothwell, who had shared the Ireland story with her friend and series creator Mike White.

Fans had speculated about Belinda’s return ever since we last saw her on the shores of Maui, rearranging her downcast expression into a warm smile to greet a fresh round of guests, her dreams of launching her own business having been dashed by Coolidge’s spoiled heiress, Tanya. Rothwell assumed Belinda’s arc was over. “I was sated,” she says. “I felt like, Yeah, that’s her complete story.” Then, in 2022, White casually floated the idea of revisiting her character. “I didn’t hold my breath,” says Rothwell, 44, who at the time was developing her own show for Hulu, How to Die Alone. “But I definitely crossed my fingers.”