Westworld season two: The big questions that need answering.
Yet it also left some big questions hanging, saving some of its most intriguing mysteries to be unpicked in the show's second season next year.
Here are some of the biggest quandaries.
In a seeming mea culpa, Ford repeated his old partner's actions to get Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) to kill him of her own free will so she could reach a new level of consciousness.
While we saw Elsie (Shannon Woodward) being strangled by her mentor Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and the Ghost Nation squad ambush Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth), we never actually saw either character die.
Logan (Ben Barnes) also disappeared, riding naked on horseback and laughing madly into peril. But he may still be out there somewhere.
Meanwhile, many of the robots were killed in the finale but, as we have seen before, they can be brought back to life – as long as there is anyone left alive to rebuild them.
Where on earth is Westworld?
The show has partly answered the question of when events are happening. The "current" narrative takes place 35 years after Arnold programmed Dolores to kill him and the other hosts. But fans still don't know where Westworld is.
Bernard refers to the park as the "mainland", but that could be anywhere. Some viewers have even speculated that it is on another planet. Season two may offer more clues.
What will the hosts do with their new-found consciousness?
In an interview last month, Wood said the first season is "an amazing prequel and a good setup for the actual show", suggesting we have only just begun.
We know Delos's top-secret project goes beyond simply running an amusement park to entertain the rich, so is Westworld an experiment to comprehend and control human consciousness? Or do they want to breed a race of super-soldiers, or perhaps have an evil plan for world domination?
It is unclear whether the hosts will take control of the park and any remaining humans, or whether they hope to leave.
Dolores's original father, Abernathy, was among the hosts in cold storage - apparently programmed to escape the park. Did he ever make it? Will we find out next year?
Will there be more parks?
In Michael Crichton's 1973 film Westworld, guests can also visit Romanworld and Medievalworld, although the show's creators have said those specific parks will not feature in the TV version.
However, that is not to say there won't be other themed areas. The season finale hinted there could be an S-World, likely to be Samarai World, although it was not clear if it was fully functional or a work in progress. Meanwhile, Maeve was told her daughter was in "Park 1", suggesting there is more than just Westworld…
Westworld theories: Are fans right about Dolores?
28 November
With just two more episodes to run, the first series of Westworld, HBO's science fiction thriller, is about to reach its climax.
Critics have hailed the programme, which juxtaposes humans and super-realistic androids in a western-themed amusement park, as a mix of enthralling drama and outright insanity.
But the series has also managed to confuse viewers about exactly who is who, who knows who, who is what, and what is happening when. Here are a few of the sensible – and not so sensible – theories as to what's going on:
The is more than one Dolores
Dolores is the oldest artificial human – or "host" – in the Westworld park, and one of the central characters in the series. The fact that she appears to move easily around locations has prompted speculation that more than one of her is being presented to the audience.
It's "certainly unclear" how Dolores is being "pulled from the park without anyone noticing" for her meetings with Bernard, says Empire[2]'s Owen Williams. After all, there's no reason why hosts should not be mass-produced. Dolores herself has been seeing doppelgangers everywhere but it's not yet clear if they are real or if she's going mad.
The drama is unfolding in multiple timelines
After episode eight, it is now "indisputable" that Westworld is being told to us in multiple timelines – and even eras of the park – all jumbled up in the same episode, says Vulture[3].
In episode eight, the Man in Black bumped into the host who greeted William when he arrived in the park, says the site, and said he remembered her but thought she had been retired. While this doesn't quite confirm the fan theory that William is the Man in Black, it does prove the guest's timeline happened long before the events involving the Man in Black.
Some fans are certain there are at least three different timelines in the show: the scenes involving Teddy and the Man in Black; the sequences featuring Dolores and William, and the town massacre before William arrived.
This would provide an alternative to the idea that there is more than one Dolores. Instead, one Dolores is having flashbacks of her previous experiences.
Arnold is still alive
Dr Ford – Westworld's founder and creative director, played by Anthony Hopkins – has told Bernard that Arnold, his old partner, died after trying to make the hosts conscious. But Ford is not a reliable narrator.
Programmer Elsie, whose job was to rectify the strange behaviour of some of the cyborgs, warned that the first-generation hosts had been re-programmed by someone calling himself Arnold. But she appears to have been killed by Bernard at Dr Ford's request. Or is Bernard also being influenced by Arnold?
One "Arnold is alive" theory proposes that he managed to upload his consciousness onto the central computer at Westworld before he died and that he's now manipulating events.
Other 'humans' are hosts
Fans' suspicions that Bernard – head of the Westworld programming division and creator of artificial people – was a host were confirmed at the end of the seventh episode when Theresa, the park's operations leader, finds design plans showing that he is indeed an automaton.
Until then, the internet had been alive with speculation about Bernard's non-human origins, much of it based on the idea that he's a copy of Arnold. But are there other hosts acting as humans in Westworld?
The park is underwater... Or a documentary
Use of multiple timelines and super-realistic cyborgs makes it easy for Westworld to play with the viewer's perceptions. This in turn has spawned a glut of fanciful theories about what's going on.
Two related and far-fetched ideas have it that Ford has either flooded Westworld or that the entire park is underwater. This might account for the futuristic transport needed to get guests to the park, but fails to explain the existence of a desert miles below the surface.
Another theory proposes that Westworld is a documentary pieced together by one of the park's escapees after a bloody climax. And there's more. The theory is that the programme is a "real" documentary from the future, in Terminator style. Tell that to the executives at HBO.
Westworld episode eight: The plot thickens
22 November
Cowboy-android thriller Westworld's latest episode revealed more about the sinister theme park and its robot inhabitants – but critics and viewers are still struggling to put it all together.
Last week, it was confirmed that Bernard Lowe, the designer of the artificial consciousness which animates the "host" androids, was actually a robot himself, satisfying fans who had long speculated he was being controlled by park director Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins).
In this week's episode, Trace Delay, the big reveal was the Man in Black's confession of his villainous past, in which he killed the daughter of brothel-keeper Maeve.
It turns out the robot's human-like grief made the gunslinger realise the hosts were capable of more than synthetic emotion and so kick-started his quest to discover the mystery at the heart of the game.
But while fans might be relieved to get yet another piece of the Westworld puzzle, critics have wondered whether the multiple timelines and the blurring of real and scripted memories are becoming too much to process.
At points, says Alan Sepinwall in Uproxx[4], the intriguing narrative threatens to become bogged down in "dreams, loops, and other things that are starting to feel like they require more mental effort than the dramatic payoff will be worth".
Besides, with only two episode to go, this is "probably not the place to keep adding mystery layers", writes Empire's[5] James White.
So what next? Vanity Fair's[6] Joanna Robinson predicts the storyline isn't about to get any easier. She outlines fan theories suggesting that "William and the Man in Black are actually the same character" in two timelines and that Bernard is a clone of Ford's apparently dead partner Arnold, meaning that "sometimes when we think we're watching Bernard, we're actually watching Arnold".
Got all that?
The show continues this weekend.
Westworld: Six questions about the new sci-fi hit
11 October
Intelligent, perplexing and unnerving, HBO's new dystopian sci-fi thriller Westworld, which premiered on 4 October on Sky Atlantic, has left fans baffled but intrigued.
Based on Michael Crichton's 1973 film of the same name, Westworld is set in a theme park populated by sophisticated androids who exist solely to realise the wild west fantasies of human visitors. While the original movie made the park's visitors the protagonists, the TV series focuses on the android hosts and asks what happens when they develop consciousness.
The mysterious opening episode introduced key characters including Evan Rachel Wood as park host Dolores, Thandie Newton as host madam Maeve, Jeffrey Wright as Westworld programmer Bernard and Anthony Hopkins as Westworld's creative director Dr Robert Ford. Ed Harris appears as the mysterious Man in Black.
The episode saw the robot hosts behaving strangely, the Man in Black behaving dangerously and the park's staff very worried. It also raised a number of questions. Here are just six:
Who is the Man in Black and what does he want?
In the original Westworld, the Man in Black/Gunslinger was played by Yul Brynner and was a robot host who runs amok killing guests. But in this series, the character is a crazed human visitor, whose brutal actions seem to be aimed at uncovering some deeper truth about the park. Park directors seem to be too distracted by glitches in their upgraded robots to notice his unhinged behaviour. But who is he in the outside world and what is he really up to?
What's inside the hosts' scalps?
In the disturbing end to the first episode, the Man in Black scalps one of the park's hosts, revealing an unusual design inside his head. What is it? A pattern, a map, or some clue to a puzzle? And why does the Man in Black want it?
Can the guests get away with anything?
In the premiere, it seems that guests are allowed to do pretty much anything they want to the hosts. If they shoot a bad guy, the same baddie returns the next day. Poor Dolores is attacked, but wakes up the next day with seemingly no memory of what she endured. So can the guests get away with anything, no matter how violent or depraved? Not exactly. The park and the guns seem to be designed to stop the humans hurting each other. But will the robots develop to hurt the humans? And what about that knife the Man in Black carries?
Why are the robots acting strangely?
The robot hosts are suddenly and sporadically remembering their prior lives, straying off script and questioning their reality. It seems to be linked to Dr Ford's latest software updates, but was it really an accident or a sinister experiment? And does anyone really trust Dr Ford?
Will we see other worlds?
In the original movie, the Westworld park is just one of three themed worlds, which include Roman World and Medieval World. Given that the HBO series is set to run for several seasons, it seems likely that at some point we'll be introduced to one or more of those alternative worlds. Will we see guests heading off to dress as knights or donning togas, and is it possible that the androids of Westworld will find a way to communicate with their counterparts in these alternative realities?
Who is 'the lady with the white shoes'?
It was easy to miss the drinking toast that Old Bill made with Dr Ford, but some fans think it might be a clue to what happens next: "Here's to the lady with the white shoes. Take all your money, drink all your booze. Ain't got a cherry, that ain't no sin. She's still got the box that the cherry come in."
Bill is the second oldest host to be built and clearly showing signs of malfunction as he drinks with his creator Dr Ford. After learning that Dolores is the oldest host to be built, some fans wondered whether she might be the "lady with the white shoes" and whether Dr Ford has a secret past involving the android.
According to Bustle,[7] the rhyme is a variation of a decades-old real-life toast, although the lady or girl is usually wearing red shoes. Therefore, it might simply be a device to show how far the hosts have come over the years due to upgrades. says the magazine. But Bill's existence does present another question: How has Dolores been upgraded without any glitches, while younger hosts have become relics of the past?
Westworld: Is sci-fi thriller the next Game of Thrones?
20 September
HBO's big new science-fiction thriller Westworld is already being compared to Game of Thrones, with first reviews praising its "enthralling" look at the effects of artificial intelligence on humanity.
The series, developed by Interstellar writer Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy for HBO, is based on the 1973 film of the same name, which was written and directed by Michael Crichton of Jurassic Park fame. It was set in a futuristic Western theme-park, where the robots malfunctioned and started killing guests.
The new television series explores a similar premise, but rather than looking at the robots as a threat to human life, it explores the psychological implications as the robots become more human and people become dehumanised.
Anthony Hopkins stars as Dr Robert Ford, the park's brilliant creative director, along with Ed Harris as the Gunslinger, Evan Rachel Wood, who plays a Western girl who suspects her life has been constructed, and James Marsden as her romantic interest.
"Move over Game of Thrones, it's cowboy time," says Lucy Mangan in The Guardian[8], who adds this mega-budget remake "plays just as niftily" as the original did upon our contemporary fears about technology.
She adds it is unclear whether there is much overlap between fans of Game of Thrones author George RR Martin and Philip K Dick, whose Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was turned into Blade Runner, but for those who like story - lots of story - "Westworld will hit the spot as hard as GoT ever did".
What makes the series particularly unsettling is how plausible it all seems, says Christopher Hooton in The Independent[9]. This kind of setup used to seem fanciful, but with advances in technology and AI, the Westworld park "comes across like something Elon Musk might announce during a keynote in the not-so-distant future".
It's an "enthralling glimpse" into that all-too-near future, he continues, and in choosing not to give everything away up front, the show is also "eminently fan theory-ready", making it ideal for internet and water-cooler discussion a la GoT, Stranger Things and Mr Robot.
While the original was a "rollicking" action movie, the series is more cerebral, says Louisa Mellor at Den of Geek[10]. This is television that demands our attention, "ambitious, clever, unmissable sci-fi".
Game Of Thrones fans will get splashes of violence, between the discussions on moral philosophy, she adds, but this isn't pulp TV; instead, it's "poised, brainy and dignified", or "as dignified as a show can be with the inevitable HBO array of arses and tits".
If Westworld lacks anything, "it's leavening humour", continues Mellor. So far, "there's no mordant Tyrion Lannister and Varys pairing to blast fresh air into its hermetically sealed sci-fi chamber".
Still, she concludes, it looks set to be among those rare film-to-TV adaptations that "don't just earn their keep on the small screen, but excel".
Westworld starts on Sky at 9pm on 4 October
Westworld: What do new photos reveal about HBO sci-fi drama?
23 August
Westworld, which is set to arrive on our screens on 2 October, is already being tipped as one of the must-see series of 2016. If the name rings a bell, it may be because Michael Crichton's novel was adapted into a movie in 1973.
HBO's ten-episode mini-series will be fronted by X Men star James Marsden, True Blood's Evan Rachel Wood, and screen legend Anthony Hopkins.
The dystopian sci-fi drama revolves around Westworld, a futuristic take on living history "in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged", the HBO synopsis tells us. Guests at the amusement park can experience a lifelike replica of the Wild West peopled with ultra-advanced androids as cowboys, outlaws and farmers.
But when the robots break loose, and, terrifyingly, develop sentience, they begin to turn against their human creators. So it is similar to Jurassic Park with robots instead of dinosaurs - and from the robots' point of view.
An intriguing new set of photos from the upcoming series gives viewers a glimpse of what's in store. One arresting image shows Hopkins in character as the mysterious Dr Robert Ford, creative director of Westworld.
In another, Evan Rachel Wood looks the picture of wholesome glamour as Dolores Abernathy, a Wild West girl who discovers her quaint frontier life is a fantasy engineered by Westworld's staff.
So far, all we know about Rodrigo Santoro's role in the drama is that his character is named Hector Escaton. However, judging by his black get-up in the new images, Escaton could well turn out to be The Gunslinger, the android outlaw played by Yul Brynner in the 1973 film.
Directed by Jonathan Nolan – brother of Christopher – and co-produced by JJ Abrams of Star Trek fame, Westworld has a stack of on and off screen talent behind it. Could it rival Stranger Things[11] and Orange is the New Black as the talked-about TV sensation of the year?
Westworld: What to expect from the dark sci-fi odyssey
9 August
HBO's long-awaited science-fiction series Westworld is set to be this year's next big hit.
The ten-part thriller, based on the 1973 film of the same name written and directed by Michael Crichton, is set in a Western-themed amusement park staffed by androids that malfunction and run amok.
It stars Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood and James Marsden and was created by Jonathan Nolan, his wife, Lisa Joy, and JJ Abrams.
Hopkins plays Dr Robert Ford, the creative director of the "ultra-realistic" amusement park, while Wood is an android who discovers her life is an elaborately constructed fiction.
According to Hollywood Reporter[12], the opening scene shows her "being dragged by her hair to be raped off-screen" by the so-called "Man in Black", portrayed by Harris.
HBO has defended its use of rape and violence against women, describing it as an "examination of human nature" and saying that "violence and sexual violence have been a fact of human history since the beginning".
Nolan said he also wanted to tackle issues arising from the rapid developments in artificial intelligence and virtual reality.
"We wanted to go flat out, full scope, sleeves-rolled-up plunge into the next chapter of the human story in which we stop being the protagonists and our creations start taking over that role," he said.
The show looks at what happens when such creations discover they are made in our image. "It's easy to understand why they start to question whether they want to be like us at all."
Nolan has suggested the show's robot characters would be more central to the story than the human characters, turning the original film "inside out".
"You should be scared. I'm scared," Wood told Collider[13]. "It's an intellectual nightmare. It is all very much based in reality."
Westworld was originally scheduled to make its debut last year, but was delayed following casting changes, rewrites and a production pause. It is now due to air on HBO and Sky Atlantic in October.
References
- ^ IMDb (www.imdb.com)
- ^ Empire (www.google.com)
- ^ Vulture (www.google.com)
- ^ Uproxx (uproxx.com)
- ^ Empire's (www.empireonline.com)
- ^ Vanity Fair's (www.vanityfair.com)
- ^ Bustle, (www.bustle.com)
- ^ The Guardian (www.theguardian.com)
- ^ The Independent (www.independent.co.uk)
- ^ Den of Geek (www.denofgeek.com)
- ^ Stranger Things (www.theweek.co.uk)
- ^ Hollywood Reporter (www.hollywoodreporter.com)
- ^ Collider (collider.com)
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