Why ‘The White Lotus’ is a very hard act to follow for Jennifer Coolidge

SYDNEY: For Jennifer Coolidge, the huge success of two seasons of "The White Lotus" represents both a major career revival and a hard act to follow, says 'Variety'.

"I have to move on," Coolidge told fans in Sydney this weekend. "Offers have come in and I would love to do a film next, but 'The White Lotus' holds this very high bar, so it will be hard to choose."

Coolidge and the show's creator, writer and director Mike White were in Australia's biggest city for Vivid Talks, part of the 23-day Vivid Sydney, the largest festival in Australia, notes 'Variety'. Their 90-minute "Conversation" was attended by a sold-out crowd of 9,000 at Sydney's Aware Super Theatre stadium.

White, whose only previous visit to Sydney was as a contestant with his father Mel White on "The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business" in 2011, was stunned, according to 'Variety', by the scale of their audience. "Backstage I was thinking 'What is going on? How is it possible that all these people are here to see us'," he said.

White flew in from Thailand where he was developing a third season of "The White Lotus", but which is now stalled due to the screenwriters' strike. "Not to turn this industry-wide, tragic situation into a personal plus for me, but it's kind of nice to be 'pencils down'," he said, adding: "I hope, obviously, the strike gets resolved quickly and that everyone's happy."

White did not exclude the possibility of a prequel featuring a story line with Coolidge's character Tanya McQuoid, who was killed off in Season 2, or using Australia as a future location. "I would like to get to every continent for this show," he said.

Coolidge confessed to being "in a very weird position" since her on-screen death. She said: "I was getting calls from actress friends who were wondering if a third season happened, could I get them in on it. "But, I would like to see some of the characters return who we haven't seen quite finish their story."

Coolidge, 'Variety' reports, was greeted in Sydney by fans dressed as Tanya McQuoid and she opened up to them about her sudden career revival.

"I want everyone to know all my depressing stories. Because I think it will help people," she said. "I know there's a bunch of positive people in the audience that don't need any. But I do feel like I am a good story. I had a very hard time functioning for many years, because I just didn't think I had a shot in hell."