Westworld has been canceled by HBO.
The network has chosen to discontinue the science fiction drama after its fourth season.
It’s an unexpected end for a show that was previously regarded as one of HBO’s biggest tentpoles, a celebrated mystery-box drama with 54 Emmy nominations (including a supporting actress win for Thandiwe Newton).
In an interview last month, co-creator Jonathan Nolan expressed hope that HBO will renew the series for a fifth season to wrap out the show’s epic tale, which has followed a robot rebellion that transformed the fate of mankind.
“We always planned for a fifth and final season,” Nolan said. “We are still in conversations with the network. We very much hope to make them.” Co-creator Lisa Joy likewise said the series has always been working toward a specific ending: “Jonah and I have always had an ending in mind that we hope to reach. We have not quite reached it yet.”
This was HBO’s statement: “Over the past four seasons, Lisa and [Jonathan] have taken viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step. We are tremendously grateful to them, along with their immensely talented cast, producers and crew, and all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television. It’s been a thrill to join them on this journey.”
From hollywoodreporter.com:
And here’s Kilter Films’ statement: “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.”
HBO still has several tentpole dramas including the newly launched House of the Dragon along with Succession, The White Lotus and Euphoria, plus the upcoming zombie apocalypse thriller The Last of Us.
Also, just like the show’s frequently resurrected androids, it would be foolish to assume there will never be any more Westworld ever. If Deadwood can get a movie 12 years after the series finished, it’s always possible Westworld could likewise be, well, rebooted.
