Even though Hollywood has come to a halt at the moment, rest assured that your favorite creatives are planning lots more content. Take Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, for example: the people behind HBO’s Westworld have promised at least one more season of their robot revolution show, and after the way season 3 ended, they pretty much have to.
Do you know how season 3 ended? Then you might want to turn back now, because from here on out there are SPOILERS.
Basically, season 3 climaxed with the death of Doloers Abernathy, the most prominent of the robotic “hosts” we’d be following since the beginning. Her memories were completely erased, which is as close to death as one of her kind is ever likely to get.
Speaking on Variety and iHeart’s The Big Ticket Podcast, star Evan Rachel Wood recalled getting the news. “I found out I think halfway through Season 3, or towards the end,” she said. “We really find out the arc of our characters episode by episode. We get a general idea at the beginning of each season; they tell us where our characters are at, what their mission is, and then go. Then we learn as we go. It’s one of the reasons why I think it’s challenging to work on, but also what makes it exciting. So Jonah called me up and broke the news to me.”
"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 Dolores that we know is gone"
See, the “cryptic” bit gives me pause. Because it’s not like Dolores is a normal human being who can die and then they’re dead. She’s a machine, so even if “the Dolores that we know is gone,” it doesn’t mean Dolores won’t still be around in some capacity come season 4. I call shenanigans.
Wood, too, seems to at least be contemplating a return. “I want to come back,” she said. Maybe she won’t be the same rancher’s daughter-turned-murderous-revolutionary-turned-mother-of-mankind that we know, but she’ll be something.
I mean, at the very least, it would put Wood’s mom at ease. “Honestly, the person that was the hardest for was my mother,” Wood recalled. “I knew she was going to be devastated. And she was, but more than I anticipated. I called her up and she’s just weeping, ‘It took her memories, I don’t understand.’ I had to be like, ‘No, but mom, this is …’ I had to give her some kind of hope, but for the most part, that was the hardest phone call I think. I understand why she was so upset, she takes it personally any time a character that I play meets their demise. It’s a personal attack.”
That’s pretty adorable, actually.
If Dolores does come back, she’ll be dealing with a brave, scary new world. Rehoboam, the super-computer that controlled mankind’s destiny, has been toppled, and the host formerly known as Charlotte Hale (or currently known, it’s hard to keep track) is building hosts for some nefarious purpose. I thrown the term “robot revolution” around a lot when talking about Westworld, but it looks like next season it could actually happen.
And thanks to her time dealing with all of that, Wood thinks a little differently about the role technology plays in this world. “I do not have Alexa. I turn Siri off,” she said. “It genuinely has maybe perked my ears up a little more about things, and just ask more questions. I think there’s a lot of technology out there right now that is moving very rapidly, and so fast that I think it’s hard for a lot of us to keep up. The more we don’t understand it, then the more out of control we are, and the more vulnerable we are to have it control us in a way.”
Is this a good time to point you towards the WinterIsComing news app? I can’t see why not.
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels