Westworld just ended its first season last night, but what about season two? Recently, creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy spoke to Variety about the future of the HBO series.
Based on the 1973 film, the sci-fi series takes place in a futuristic, Western theme park which features robots (called “hosts”) that begin to gain consciousness. The cast includes James Marsden, Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, and Jeffrey Wright.
Speaking to Variety, Nolan said that season two won’t necessarily focus more on the hosts:
Not necessarily. One of the great things about this omnibus, ensemble storytelling that HBO has mastered is the ability to shift that perspective and find empathy for different people, and that’s something that we want to continue to play with throughout.”
Joy and Nolan later revealed that they’ve begun working on season two and it’s ambitious:
Joy: We’ve started working on scripts and outlines. It’s looking good. It’s looking very ambitious. There’s some surprises and bits of it that you won’t see coming. I’m having fun.
Nolan: It’s an ambitious project, and HBO has encouraged us to take the time and resources that we need to work on each stage of that. I love television. One of the fun things about television is that sometimes you find yourself in this place where you have to wear all these hats at once. You have to write, shoot, and cut simultaneously. We wanted to in the second season spend some more time writing, then switch gears into production, then cut. So we’re not going to follow the annual year-on-year tradition of television. Television’s changing. And the ambition of the project is such that we’re going to take our time to get the second season right.”
Sadly, Nolan later said season two won’t air until 2018:
We won’t be on the air until 2018. We started that conversation with the network when were shooting Episode 2 and we realized the complexity of trying to write and produce the show at the same time. We both work in the movie business as well, and in the movie business the best that you can possibly hope for with a film franchise is to turn around another installment in two or three years. So really on that schedule, we’re doing great.”
What do you think? Are you a fan of Westworld? Did you find the season one finale satisfying?
I watched the original ”West World” and loved it! This series is a step beyond the original. I hope enough people watch this series ,so it goes on indefinitely.
did not like this show at all, cancel it and make something else with all that cash.
Over a year for a second season is how people become disinterested. That’s a totally disappointing time frame. 6 months is too long, 8 is really unacceptable, so 13 months they might as well not bother.
I stopped watching after the 3rd show, not what I expected and frankly a bore
Since most people are willing to wait until the next season comes along, I don’t know if it will be a big deal. People will just have to find other shows to watch and other things to do to pass the time.