The robot uprising is over. HBO’s Westworld was once a huge science fiction success—a glossy new take Michael Crichton’s ’70s film that transformed the story into an enticing puzzle box with an almost outrageously good cast. But since the second season, viewers (and reviews) and fallen. The fifth season that creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan had hoped for will never materialize: HBO has cancelled the series.
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Westworld starred a rotating cast of characters played by actors who might die in one scene (or season), only to return with a newly programmed personality in the next. Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Harris, James Marsden, and Anthony Hopkins were all key to the first season; as the series continued, Wood, Wright, Newton and Harris remained especially central to its mysteries, while other actors joined or left the cast (including Aaron Paul, Tessa Thompson, Jimmi Simpson, Angela Sarafyan, and Rodrigo Santoro).
In a statement, Joy and Nolan said:
“Making Westworld has been one of the highlights of our careers. We are deeply grateful to our extraordinary cast and crew for creating these indelible characters and brilliant worlds. We’ve been privileged to tell these stories about the future of consciousness – both human and beyond – in the brief window of time before our AI overlords forbid us from doing so.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the first season of Westworld had twelve million viewers, while the recently concluded fourth season had only four million. THR points out, “Westworld, which changed settings every two seasons in a move straight out of the movie, was not a cheap show to produce or market. And with ratings (and reviews) diminishing for its past two seasons, and HBO committed to other high-profile shows that are perhaps more economical, it no longer made sense to return to Westworld.”
But should you wish to watch the show’s four seasons, you can do so on HBO Max.
