James Marsden played the kindly robot cowboy Teddy for the first two seasons of HBO’s sci-fi epic Westworld. He sat out the third but returned as a new version of himself for the fourth, which ended up being the last one; HBO canceled Westworld ahead of a planned fifth and final season.
“I’d be lying to you if I told you that the way we ended ‘Westworld’ wasn’t a disappointment,” Marsden told Rolling Stone. “I’m never going to speak without gratitude about any of my experiences, but it would have been nice to be able to complete the story we wanted to finish.”
"I totally understand it’s an expensive show and big shows have to have big audiences to merit the expense, I just wish it was about more than financial success."
It’s true that Westworld was a very expensive show from the get-go. That expense became harder to justify as the show went on and lost viewers. Once penny-pinching CEO David Zaslav took control of HBO’s new parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, Westworld’s days were limited.
I sympathize with Marsden for having put in a lot of work on Westworld only for the rug to be pulled out from under him, although I also get not wanting to spend tons of money on a show that — let’s be honest — got a lot worse as it went on. The first season of Westworld was a mind-bending delight and it was all downhill from there. Together with the dwindling numbers, I can’t say I disagree with HBO’s decision to pull the plug, even if I was surprised by it.
James Marsden: Westworld cancelation was a “disappointment”
That said, there’s always the opportunity to turn things around. Westworld season 4 was better than season 3…even if it still wasn’t the show operating at its peak. Maybe season 5 would have been fantastic.
And shows have returned from the dead before: just look at The Expanse and Lucifer, which also had not-insignificant budgets. “But who knows, maybe there’s some world where it can get completed somehow,” Marsden mused. “Maybe that’s just wishful thinking because I know we had plans to finish it the way we wanted to.”
"I love this ‘Westworld’ family. It was one of those unique opportunities to be part of something where I also would be sitting at home ravenously waiting for the next episode as a fan."
There is a fan-made website dedicated to saving Westworld. Maybe it can gain some traction.
Normally this is the point where I’d say that you catch all four seasons of Westworld on HBO Max…but you can’t. In what does admittedly feel like kicking a show when it’s down, Warner Bros. Discovery removed all episodes of Westworld from the streaming service and intends to air them on FAST streaming services. Maybe they’ll be back one day? Add it to the list of things to hope for.
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