Helena Bonham Carter has left the shoot of season four of The White Lotus, just days after production began in the South of France.
It emerged last week that filming had commenced on the hit HBO show, an anthology series with a new storyline set in a different exotic locale each season.
Season four would have seen Carter, 59, join an all-star cast including Heather Graham, Sandra Bernhard, Vincent Cassel, Steve Coogan and Rosie Perez.
However HBO has now released a statement announcing Carter’s departure from the show over creative differences involving her character.
‘With filming just underway on season four of The White Lotus, it had become apparent that the character which Mike White created for Helena Bonham Carter did not align once on set,’ the network revealed to TMZ.
‘The role has subsequently been rethought, is being rewritten and will be recast in the coming weeks,’ continued the premium cable broadcaster.
A representative for Carter declined the Daily Mail’s request for comment.
Helena Bonham Carter has left the shoot of season four of The White Lotus, just days after production began in the South of France
In their statement, the network noted: ‘HBO, the producers and Mike White are saddened that they won’t get to work with her, but remain ardent fans and very much hope to work with the legendary actress on another project soon.’
Fans flocked to social media bewailing the news, leaving such comments as: ‘Oh my she’s the one I’m looking forward to see in this season!!!!’
Disgruntled Instagram users posted reactions like: ‘I’m depressed,’ ‘So the main character is gone…,’ and: ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.’
‘Well damn. She was my main draw this season,’ groused a viewer as others called her ‘the gem of this season’ and exclaimed: ‘Why Helena Why?!’
Others however already had a replacement in mind, clamoring for HBO to cast Jennifer Tilly, a star of Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway who has recently acquired a new fanbase on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Created by Mike White, the show revolves around the exploits of the guests and staff at a different location of the titular hotel chain every season.
Originally, the through-line was the Jennifer Coolidge character Tanya McQuoid, a daffy rich older lady who led the first two seasons while the rest of the cast changed.
The buzzy third season went viral for the incest sex scene between brothers played by ‘nepo baby’ heartthrobs Patrick Schwarzenegger and Sam Nivola, as well as for the rumors of a feud between co-stars Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood.
While the first three seasons were set in Hawaii, Sicily and Thailand, the fourth will unfold mainly on the French Riviera and partly in Paris.
The action will reportedly center on the Cannes Film Festival, with a cast including Hollywood names like Kumail Nanjiani, Ari Graynor, Chloe Bennet, Max Greenfield, Alexander Ludwig, AJ Michalka, Charlie Hall and Ben Schnetzer.
European talent have also been enlisted to add a touch of authenticity to the locale, such as Corentin Fila, Laura Smet and Nadia Tereszkiewicz from France, Frida Gustavsson from Sweden and Tobias Santelmann from Sweden.
It has emerged that the real-life Airelles Château de la Messardière in Saint-Tropez will be a filming location for the fictional White Lotus du Cap, while the Hôtel Martinez will play both the White Lotus du Cap and the White Lotus Cannes.
The name of the White Lotus du Cap is a playful nod to the world-famous Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, an A-list nexus during the Cannes Film Festival.
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton notoriously carried on a torrid love affair there while married to other people, then returned there for their own honeymoon.
