Westworld showrunners Rick Roll the internet with fake spoiler video
Great news, Westworld fans: we’ve got an all-new video about season 2 to dissect. Also, bad news, Westworld fans: the video is a brilliant troll from series creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.
The video came about after Nolan and Joy held a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” on Monday and promised to release a video spoiling the entirety of season 2 (“Everything. The whole sordid thing. Up front.”) if their post received a thousand upvotes. Nolan and Joy explained that this move was all about dealing with online spoiler culture in a new way, something that shows like Game of Thrones have been grappling with for years.
"It creates a larger problem for us, though, in terms of the way your guesswork is reported online. ‘Theories’ can actually be spoilers, and the line between the two is confusing. It’s something we’ve been thinking about since last season. The fans of Game of Thrones, for instance, rallied around and protected the secrets of the narrative in part because they already knew those secrets (through season 5)."
Over four thousand upvotes later, the pair delivered on their promise. Kind of:
Did you make it to the 1:36 mark? That’s the sound of Nolan and Joy laughing at your expense.
If you’re unfamiliar with the phenomenon of Rick Rolling, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines it as “creat[ing] an Internet link that appears to lead to a particular Web page but that opens a video of singer Rick Astley.” This video goes one better, having Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood actually sing Astley’s famous “Never Gonna Give You Up” while costar Angela Sarafyan plays piano.
But troll-tastic as this video is, there’s still a whole minute-and-a-half at the top featuring Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) waking up on a beach with apparent amnesia. It even gives us a look at new character Karl Strand, played by Vikings actor Gustaf Skarsgård, who is apparently the new Delos head of security. What exactly happened to Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth), the head of security in season 1? I’m sure there’s a story there.
There are also loads of dead hosts strewn across the beach — enhance each frame at your leisure for clues. Then we see Bernard enter the Westworld park on the train, which is how Teddy (James Marsden) entered each time he was killed and sent back in, in season 1.
If you’re a spoiler hound, you can surely suss out clues from this video, but that’s probably missing the point. And then there’s a dog sitting in front of a piano for 20 minutes. You are missed, Bento.
Next: Wrestlemania gets a Game of Thrones makeover, and other funnies
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