The White Lotus composer Cristóbal Tapia de Veer won’t be returning for future seasons of the hit HBO show, he revealed, as he described “a rock ‘n’ roll band story”-type breakup with show creator Mike White, who he compared to “the guitar player” who “doesn’t understand the singer at all.”
Tapia de Veer confirmed that he was “for sure” leaving the show in an interview with The New York Times—and admitted he didn’t tell White on purpose for maximum impact. The musician “told the team a few months ago that I was not coming back,” but wanted to tell White “just at the end for the shock.”
The composer has been making the show’s music since its first season, for which he’s won three Emmys so far. He told the Times that behind the scenes of that success were several “hysterical” spats with White and the show’s producers, going back to the first season’s theme song. HBO told Entertainment Weekly, “We’ve got nothing to add at this time (but can confirm only that Cristobal isn’t returning to the show)” when reached for comment.
For the first season, Tapia de Veer said, “I thought we could do some kind of ‘Hawaiian Hitchcock,’ and [White] really grabbed on that and he started laughing.” He added that producers would try to “convince Mike about this theme, because he didn’t want the theme.” Tapia de Veer “fought back,” he said. “It was worth all the tension and almost forcing the music into the show,” even though he didn’t have “that many allies in there.”
Season 3’s theme song, the biggest departure from the first, was another point of contention between him and White: “At that point, we already had our last fight forever, I think. So he was just saying no to anything.”
Tapia de Veer ultimately uploaded his preferred, “uncut” version of the theme to his YouTube page.
Fans were not pleased with the version that was used for the current season either, as social media users complained they were “devastated” by the change during the premiere with one fan quipping that it had “ruined” their weekend. Several wondered where the “woooo, woo ooh ooooooh” or “LOOLOOLOOs” were.
Wrote one YouTube commenter under Tapia de Veer’s version, “Wow, so you gave us exactly what we wanted, they just didn’t use it.”
The composer told the Times he copped to “maybe” being “unprofessional” at times during his tenure on the show. “For sure Mike feels that I was always unprofessional to him because I didn’t give him what he wanted,” he said. “But what I gave him did this, you know—did those Emmys, people going crazy.”
