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HBO Teases Season 2 Of Westworld

Westworld fans, prepare to journey into night. The second season of the genre-bending HBO drama from creators Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy is officially looking down the barrel of a premiere date: April 22. As with the first season, the next iteration of Westworld will clock in at 10 episodes total, with several returning series regulars from season one, including Evan Rachel Wood (Dolores), Thandie Newton (Maeve), Jeffrey Wright (Bernard), Ed Harris (the Man in Black) and more. Following the violent season one finale, the sophomore drama stands ready to push the sci-fi Western into bold new territory, ushering an era of chaos into a world that was once deemed a safe (or "safe enough," at least) fantasy realm for human guests. With season two's premiere officially close at hand, here's everything we know about what's next for Westworld, so far. (This page will be updated as more details come to light.) What's Taken So Long? For a show that's so deeply rooted in maze-like levels of mystery, it's perhaps the biggest question of them all: where in the world has Westworld been since it went off the air in 2016? Perhaps not a shock for those currently in the midst of the long wait for Game of Thrones' final season, creators Nolan and Joy previously revealed to The Hollywood Reporter as recently as the days after the Westworld season one finale their intentions to take their time diving into season two. "We said to the network very early that this was a different kind of show, having gone through the experience of making the pilot," Nolan told THR in a December 2016 interview. "We said very early on that we wouldn't be able to turn this around every year, and knowing full well that that's been a time-honored tradition in television. But in film, my other life, on the [Dark Knight trilogy of] Batman movies, the best we could do is turn another one around in three years. I really feel like we're splitting the difference here." Months before the official start of production on Westworld season two, which began in July 2017, Nolan and Joy provided guests at PaleyFest with an update on their progress. The married duo revealed their intention to write the entire season before cameras started to roll in a bid to avoid the production delays that plagued the first season. What's Next For Westworld? As often the case with Nolan and Joy's approach to the show, the creators of Westworld have remained tight-lipped about the next steps for the storyline. Rather than tease much about the future, the producing and writing partners prefer to let the show speak for itself. Luckily, the show's cast members aren't always as cagey, and what's more, two visually arresting trailers provide plenty of information about the future direction of the story. Both the Comic-Con teaser and the Super Bowl trailer depict a Westworld submerged in utter chaos, an expected outcome of the first season finale's violent climax: Dolores achieving full consciousness, and launching a violent revolution against the park's human guests. Season two will follow Dolores and the other hosts deeper down that rabbit hole toward self-awareness and self-preservation, while simultaneously tracking the stories of the human survivors still trapped inside the park. As for the park itself, the wild west landscape will remain the beating heart of the series, even as its scope expands, according to Nolan: "This series is called Westworld. So Westworld the place and the idea of it remains central to our story as we go forward. But the hosts are going to become more curious about what else there is in this world for them to understand and explore. That's where we want our show to go as well." "I've worked in television for years and I love all of the different ways you can build a show. But for the most part, you get through the pilot, you build your sets, you hire your cast, and it's working, and you just want to hang out in that moment and enjoy that moment with that iteration of the story you're telling," Nolan told THR in 2016. "For Lisa and myself, with this show, we never had any intention of staying in one place. We don't want to shoot on the same sets for 10 years. We want to blow the sets up and move onto another piece of the story. So we said when we started working on the series that we wanted to be ambitious. We wanted each season to increase in that ambition and in the scope of the show. It also follows the story of our hosts. Their lives begin in loops, and then expand and change and grow. It's an origin of a new species. We want to follow that story all the way to the bitter end." What's Next For Samurai World? The first season offered one major tease at what's waiting for the hosts of Westworld beyond the limits of their present physical space: "Samurai World," the fan-given name of another theme park hinted at in the tenth episode of the series, when Thandie Newton's Maeve encounters hosts outfitted in armor and swords. At the time of the episode What's Next For Our Heroes and Villains? Enough about the newcomers. How about the established fan favorites? When it comes to Dolores, perhaps it's best to stop thinking about Evan Rachel Wood's character with that name. Speaking with THR shortly after the first season finale, Wood expressed her belief that the character she's now playing isn't Dolores at all, and is instead "Wyatt," the violent alter ego teased throughout season one. In the first season finale, Dolores became fully aware of her past as Wyatt, and chose to embody the personality's vicious outlook toward mankind. "The way I interpret it, when she finds the center of the maze and is talking to herself at the end, consciousness is a conversation with yourself," said Wood. "It represents to me that Dolores is fully conscious. When she realizes who she has to become and it becomes her choice, Ford has just gotten through telling her that the divine lives in our minds. She unlocks Wyatt and allows him to take over and Dolores disappears. So that was very bittersweet."