Season 4 of Westworld came to a close over the weekend, giving viewers one last chance to spend time with Christina (Evan Rachel Wood), Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson), Caleb (Aaron Paul) and all the rest before the world ended and a new digital frontier was born. Westworld has always been full of twists and turns, and the season finale was no exception. It featured a slew of plot developments that had many a fan taking to Twitter to voice their confusion, as Christina/Dolores created a digital version of the show’s original Westworld park in the Sublime, the android afterlife where the few remaining hosts are living out their days in peace.
If that all sounds like a lot to take in, it was. The season finale felt almost like a bleak reset for the series, and it’s understandable that many viewers questioned whether it was in fact the series finale. But according to Westworld co-creater Lisa Joy, the creative team has always envisioned a fifth and final season.
“We had always planned on ending the series next season,” Joy told TheWrap. “You know, we always thought that Westworld should kind of come full circle and back to the West. But with Dolores, who was just a player in other people’s games, finally getting to write her own. Just to close up a lot of the stuff that we’ve seen before like the flash-forward with The Man in Black and everything, so we have a plan for Season 5 – but, you know, life can make other plans for you. So we’ll just hope for the best.”
Westworld series finale plans were in place from the very beginning
Westworld has not yet been renewed for season 5, and given the shake-ups with the merger between Warner Media and Discovery, it’s not a guarantee. But plans for Westworld’s endgame were made all the way back when Joy and Jonathan Nolan were creating the very first episode of the series. “It’s funny, we had this planned out even when writing the pilot, which is bizarre,” Joy said. “We’re like, well if we’re going to tackle all these things, what is the point we’re trying to make at the end?”
"It’s not an accident that they’re returning to the west, as Westworld, and this time with a completely different storyteller in charge. I think point of view can change drastically the meaning of any kind of story or existence, and now it’s her turn. How often do you get to see the damsel in distress become the leader of a society? Somebody who went through what she did – I mean, look at our world now. How often does that happen and who holds power in most civilizations? It’s not a person or creature like Dolores. She was a “thing” to people. She lived through countless lives and reboots where she was at the mercy of guests in a park, indulging in their vices and id. She’s seen a lot of human nature, and maybe enough to know how to structure something or give a game in which some kind of hope for it might emerge."
This sort of reversal is something that Joy has personally experienced. Before she headed up HBO’s heady science fiction drama, Joy was part of a predominantly male writer’s room on a show, an experience that E! News says left her “demoralized.”
“Did I have the answer on how to not feel pain, to not feel marginalized, to feel totally in control of myself and really confident about everything that I was in?” Joy asked. “Absolutely not.”
In that way, Joy related quite a lot to Maeve and Dolores’ journey in the first season of the show, where they were often exploited and treated as damsels in distress. But in confronting these issues, Joy found that she was not alone. “There is a camaraderie in the asking of the same questions and the sharing of the same dilemma. That in itself is a human condition that we all have, these certain recurring recursive struggles.”
As for the Westworld season 4 finale and what it all means, Joy remains contemplative. “I want answers, too,” she said, “like just existentially speaking. I have my own beliefs on what makes life meaningful. But I also think that questioning is part of life, right?”
Is season 4 the end of Westworld?
Whether or not we ever get to see the ending the creators have planned, it’s certainly been a wild ride. Joy is grateful for the journey that the show has had.
“The actors they’ve become such valuable, intimate friends and collaborators, so it really does feel like we’re all asking the same questions and working together to try to tell a story that we hope resonates with someone,” she said. “I just feel very, very fortunate to have that collective experience. Honestly, it’s been it’s been really meaningful to me.”
All four season of Westworld are currently available to stream on HBO Max.
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