Westworld Season 2 has been officially picked up by HBO, and now a major character confirmed his surprising return.
Fans of Cowboys and Robot Indians can rejoice, because HBO confirmed in November what everyone has been long expecting: we’ll be headed back to the park for Westworld season 2 in 2017. The news was made official when HBO Programming President Casey Bloys released a statement confirming the series, as well as Divorce and Insecure, will be getting a second season order.
This must be a special relief to HBO, considering that the days of dragons and wildfire are looking fewer and fewer as we approach the final two truncated seasons of Game of Thrones over the next few summers. Additionally, Vinyl turned into an infamous flop for the premium cable giant, which then preceded some changes behind-the-scenes, including with Bloys’ ascension.
“It’s fantastic to have a broad-based cultural and ratings hit to build from,” Bloys said on the subject of Westworld, as according to Variety. “That’s a great, great luxury.”
Indeed, it is, indeed it is. And we now have the luxury to consider how these violent delights may have more gloriously violent ends in the second season.
Westworld Season 2 Casting
This brings us to the first major confirmation of a returning character in season 2, which unto itself could theoretically serve as a spoiler for the first season's final two episodes. So if you don't want to know who lives and who dies, turn back now.
Still with us? Good.
Because it looks like the Man in Black will be staying a lot longer in the park than even Robert Ford could have anticipated. Indeed, Ed Harris revealed to BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, while promoting a return to West End, that a revisiting of Westworld is also in order.
About the prospect of doing more episodes, Harris confirmed, "I was just talking to Jonah Nolan last night, who’s a creator of this thing with his wife Lisa Joy, and yeah, they’re doing another season. They’re going to do 10 more episodes, and I will be involved.”
This is arguably a surprise since many assumed, including myself, that Ed Harris' attachment to Westworld was a limited engagement affair, not unlike Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson agreeing to do True Detective for only one year (now, much to HBO's likely chagrin). Also, the character is so nihilistic that he appeared to have a death wish. Additionally, it seemed almost inevitable that the guest with the cruelest inclinations towards the hosts would suffer the most in return.
But it seems the Man in Black shall ride again in season 2... unless of course he appears in more flashbacks and fractured timelines. That's a whole other can of worms, however, which we explore here.
Westworld Season 2 Story Details
The news of season 2's confirmation was also fortuitous in November, since showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy let slip on the same day to Entertainment Weekly that we can expect much more detail being given to how hosts work during the second season, including how they’re powered.
“Their construction and their power source is something we’re really going to get into during season 2,” Nolan said. “So we’d like to keep that mysterious. They’re closer to biological than they are mechanical, but they don’t suffer brain death the same way we do. They’re largely indistinguishable from human beings, but their brains don’t require oxygen—which opens up interesting possibilities. Their brains are not as fragile as ours. On one hand, their cognition is controllable and malleable, but on a structural level, they can’t be killed in the same way you and I can. There are advantages and disadvantages to being a host. [In] season 2, we’ll be exploring more of the nuts and bolts of what they are—as the hosts themselves are trying to understand.”
This consideration of artificial biology is not that surprising since Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy already revealed they were breaking down the second season during the Westworld panel at New York Comic Con that we attended in October 2016.
“There were a handful of things that we weren’t able to touch in the first season, and we’re now currently breaking the second season,” Nolan had said during the NYCC panel. “One of the really nice things about TV is, you get to go again.”
Indeed, that feedback loop can begin in earnest now, as Westworld season 2 is powering full-steam ahead like a locomotive. And come on, we all know that you’re going to be wearing the black hat when it comes time to watch it.
