Westworld season 2 is over, and it went out with a bang.
Creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy really threw everyone for a loop in season 2 a.k.a. “The Door.” The robots went way off-script in a story that focused largely on themes of humanity, privacy and the rebellion we were waiting for. The twisty finale “The Passengers” finally took us to the Valley Beyond, and set the stage for what should be a wild ride in season 3.
By season’s end, a number of hosts have successfully escaped to a mysterious heavenly paradise within the Forge. But sadly, Maeve (Thandie Newton) and company just don’t make it. And in its final moments, the show hit us with a major revelation: Dolores the host has been secretly hiding within the body Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) and she’s headed out of Westworld with a fancy handbag full of robot brains.
All of this raises some complex questions about where season 3 will take us from here. What will become of the robots who look like they’re in terrible shape? Can Dolores survive outside the park?
Luckily, there are plenty of fan theories to feed the frenzy until it’s time for Westworld to return, and it’s never too early to get ready for the next installment.
With that in mind, here’s everything to know so far about the latest details on Westworld season 3 news from the release date to the cast.
Will there be a Westworld season 3?
Good news: HBO confirmed to Variety on May 1 that Westworld season 3 is indeed happening.
Bad news: We know about as much about the season 3 premiere date as Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) knew what year it was. Which is to say that there’s no official release date yet.
In fact, it looks like the cast won’t even be together for awhile. “We’re not supposed to start shooting Season 3 until next June,” Ed Harris, who plays The Man in Black, told The Huffington Post. So don’t even think about fixing yourself a drone host milkshake or a cortical fluid syringe cocktail yet.
Why wait so long? The last time Nolan answered the “when” question, he basically said they’re not going to rush perfection.
“It’s an ongoing conversation with our friends at HBO, and for us, with a show of this scope and scale, we’re not interested in doing the compromised version,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “We want the show to get bigger and bigger and more ambitious and this takes time. We want to take all the time we need to get it right.”
The show’s popular first season debuted in October 2016 and ended in December 2016. But fans didn’t get their Westworld fix until season 2 returned more than a year later in April 2018. If the show follows a similar schedule, we might have to wait until as late as 2020 for season 3.
Who’s coming back for season 3?
Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Maeve are both on board for season 3 after notable season 2 milestones. Each actor confirmed this when they were vocal about equal pay, saying that they’ll receive the same salary as stars Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins in season 3.
As for fan favorite Man in Black, Harris has said he’s clueless about his future on the show. “I don’t even know if I’m in it or not. I figure I am? But I don’t know in what capacity, and I don’t know what the what will be happening. We’ll find out,” Harris told the Huffington Post.
Will we finally kiss sweet Teddy (James Marsden) goodbye forever? If there aren’t any backups somewhere in the park, it would appear we’ve seen the last of him. But what if someone simply deposited his brain into another host? Westworld could always pull off a major twist. After all, Ford came back in season 2 after everyone told us that he was gone for good.
How can I watch Westworld season 1 and season 2 to catch up?
There’s plenty of ways to go back and revisit the grand puzzle. You can watch Westworld on the HBO Now and HBO Go apps. But it’s not only on HBO. Looking for how to watch Westworld without HBO? There’s a number of ways to see Westworld online. Westworld is also available through Amazon’s Prime Video package, Hulu and PlayStation Vue, all of which offer free trial periods.
What are the biggest Westworld theories?
This show’s twisty structure invites speculation. One of the most compelling Westworld fan theories is that Bernard is really Teddy. Exhibit A: Westworld’s bespectacled Head of Programming wears Teddy’s clothes and is often very confused about the scrambled chronology in his head. Exhibit B: We know that a host’s brain parts can be extracted and transplanted, so if the park pulled off some sort of Teddy and Bernard switcheroo, it might explain why the character we see as Bernard feels so lost.
Another redditor believes William is Ford’s son. If that’s the case, just like Clarissa, his major case of daddy issues will explain it all.
Is the Westworld season 3 trailer out yet?
Not yet, but you can watch it here when it is.
What will Westworld season 3 be about?
While the show may not ditch the amusement parks entirely, the action will head outside of Westworld as we know it.
“It’s been a long build-up to get outside the park. And we’re incredibly excited about what that looks like and sounds like and what exactly our hosts discover out there,” Nolan told EW.
So it stands to reason that the universe will likely expand into more parks. We just don’t know where yet. In the 1973 Michael Crichton Westworld movie, tourists with thick wallets could also visit parks like Medieval world (swords!) and Roman world (hedonism.)
There’s no official information on the plot yet, but this post will be updated with any tidbits from Delos headquarters. Hopefully, the show returns with double the fun and triple the moral ambiguity.
Write to Ashley Hoffman at [email protected].