HBO won’t guarantee Westworld seasons 4 and 5 just yet

Westworld, which is gearing up for its third season on HBO, might not have the longevity of Game of Thrones. Even though a story about sentient robots trying to take over the world probably has endless permutations, this specific one might not.

That might come off as a bit overdramatic, but when Casey Bloys, HBO’s programming president, only says there’s “potential” for seasons 4 and 5 to come to fruition, you might raise an eyebrow. He was at the Television Critics’ Association summer event, and The Wrap has the details on what he said:

"We have deals with [showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy] for a potential fourth and fifth season. So the deal with them [at Amazon] is for, I believe, everything but ‘Westworld.’ And they’re very committed to ‘Westworld.’ So I’m not worried about losing their focus, they don’t lose focus."

Nolan and Joy signed a deal with Amazon a while back, and while it obviously hasn’t stopped them from making Westworld for HBO, you’ve got to wonder if it’s good for HBO for them to be dividing their time.

Anyway, there are several potential reasons why Bloys isn’t tipping his hand. First, making TV is complicated, and that complication means that renewals for multiple seasons are comparatively rare anyway. Additionally, Westworld is expensive. Season 1 reportedly cost $100 million. With plenty of other genre shows on the horizon that might not demand quite so much money, is it worth putting out more money for a series that declined in its ratings in season 2?

Things may not be riding entirely on season 3’s premiere in “early 2020,” but they do seem like Westworld’s situation is becoming more precarious. Commitment on the showrunners’ part doesn’t mean much when HBO might not be as committed to Westworld as a property.

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At least we have a vague window for season 3’s premiere. With Watchmen starting in October and His Dark Materials also set for a fall release as of now, Westworld probably won’t drop until February at the earliest, to give those series room to breath. Westworld season 2 premiere in April 2018, and April would still count as “early 2020” (barely) as well.

Keep an eye on this, in other words. If season 3 does well, then season 4 might very well happen. But for now, things seem a bit too tentative to be definitive.

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