Westworld is a show that both confounds and thrills viewers on a weekly basis and has done it for all three of its seasons so far.
It is also a show that is a critical darling but is nowhere near as widely viewed as something like Game of Thrones, which makes it hard to keep going considering the higher production costs of the sci-fi series.
With that said, fans don’t have to worry about losing out on the series yet, as there will yet be another season of Westworld coming to HBO.
Here is everything we know so far about Westworld Season 4.
This article provides everything that is known about Westworld Season 4 and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s dig down into what is known so far.
Is there going to be a Season 4 of Westworld?
HBO renewed Westworld for a Season 4 in April 2020.
The news follows an interview with showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan with Variety, where they hoped for one more season to finish the story.
This means that Westworld Season 4 is likely the end of the HBO series.
Release date latest: When does Westworld Season 4 come out?
In the Variety interview, HBO’s programming president Casey Bloys said to expect no less than 18 to 20 months after the end of Season 3 before a new season arrives.
That was before the coronavirus pandemic.
Westworld Season 1 arrived in October 2016 and had 10 episodes. Season 2 arrived 16 months after the first season ended and featured 10 episodes. Season 3 hit HBO in March 2020, 21 months after the end of Season 2.
By that math, even with COVID-19 restrictions, there was not likely a chance for Season 4 to hit anyway until early 2022. With the pandemic restrictions, seeing a March 2022 release date would not be a surprise.
“As Jonah and Lisa will tell you, I will always say, ‘Can we get it sooner?’” HBO programming chief Casey Bloys said. “As shows get bigger and more complicated, I think more time between seasons is probably becoming more of the norm.”
Westworld Season 4 cast updates
The biggest question concerns Dolores, played by Evan Rachel Wood. Her character sacrificed her life and gave up all memories in the Season 3 finale, and showrunner Jonathan Nolan said the character is gone for good.
That doesn’t mean Wood can’t come back in another way, but she is gone for now.
Up next is Aaron Paul.
The Breaking Bad veteran joined the cast in Season 3, but was it just a one-season stand?
Paul was Caleb, a blue-collar worker that we learned used to be a soldier reconditioned to forget his past. He was with Maeve (Thandie Newton) when the riots started and the skyscrapers exploded.
No telling if he is back or not.
Thandie Newton is coming back, though.
Newton, who plays Maeve, spoke to Deadline and said, “I would love to see Maeve with more intent on what she’s doing, with more purpose. I think that it’s not just that I want to be the character. I think that she defines and represents an entire…”
“She personifies freedom, you know? A freedom that has yet to be truly understood.”
Westworld Season 4 spoilers
Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores chose in the Season 3 finale to give humans free will by allowing the characters of Maeve (Thandie Newton) and Caleb (Aaron Paul) to erase all the data at Rehoboam.
This meant that Dolores sacrificed her existence, and her body is an empty shell, stripped of all memory and data. Does this mean that Dolores is gone now from Westworld?
Wood told Variety she wants to return, but how that happens is anyone’s guess.
“I want to come back,” Wood said. “I found out I think halfway through Season 3, or towards the end… He said that she was going to die; he was very blunt about it. And was slightly cryptic about other questions I had, but confirmed that yes, the Delores that we know is gone.”
One thing that Season 3 did was move the action into the real world, which was a huge change from the action taking place in the parks. Will Season 4 remain in the real world, or will it return to the amusement parks?
Jonathan Nolan spoke to Cinema Blend about the idea of Westworld rebooting itself in Season 3.
“From the beginning, we talked about a show that would reinvent itself every season, that would be fearless moving forward,” Nolan said. “That has always been the plan; we’ve always stuck to that plan. I was amused to see people refer to this season as a reboot, but this is what we’ve always been doing.”
With that in mind, the only thing that we do know about Season 4 is there is an end-point in mind, but it might be like nothing we have seen before.
HBO has yet to announce when Westworld Season 4 will premiere.