The showrunner for Westworld has broken down the big Dolores twist in the latest episode of season three.
In the most recent episode of Westworld, it was revealed that the hosts who were working with Dolores in the real world were not exactly what they seemed. It turns out that Dolores had copied herself and is now inhabiting various bodies at once, just with a different appearance.
This certainly adds another level of creepiness to proceedings and an extra insidious component to her character. Discussing the big twist, co-creator and showrunner Jonathan Nolan spoke to THR:
“We very carefully avoided the idea of clones and copies of hosts in the first couple of seasons. When you apply the idea that digital information wants to be free to your characters, it’s a very dangerous idea. If Dolores is infinitely copiable, then is she still Dolores?
“One of the ideas we’re most fascinated is identity, agency. Is Dolores a computer program? Or is Dolores a collection of her experiences? It’s one of the questions that’s the origin of the series: nature versus nurture. If we indulge in the idea of copies of the hosts too early, then the rules get threatened, and your affinity for and investment in Dolores — this Dolores — is threatened.
“Now, in our third season, a fascinating thing for us to explore is this other way of approaching the question of identity. If you take two copies of the same person but set them on slightly different trajectories but with the same goals, would they remain the same person? Would they maintain the same goals?
“Or would some part of the character — the version of Dolores who has been forced to pretend to be Hale (Thompson) — in pretending to be Hale, has she absorbed any of her methods of thinking? Is she absorbing any of who Hale was? Or is a natural consequence of being in a different circumstance than the original Dolores be that they may not remain the same person anymore — that they may not even be allies? It’s a larger question that we think is a lot of fun to play with.”
It’s certainly interesting to think about if these different versions of Dolores could end up walking different paths and even turning against each other. This makes it far more than a simple Agent Smith/Matrix situation.
We will have to wait and see how this all unfolds.
Follow the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin in this dark odyssey that begins in a world where every human appetite can be indulged. Aaron Paul, Vincent Cassel, Lena Waithe and Scott Mescudi join Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris and more for the third season, which will explore questions about the nature of our reality, free will and what makes us human.
Westworld season 3 airs on Sundays on HBO.