The park is closed for good as HBO has cancelled Westworld. The series, which premiered in 2016, ran for four seasons from creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.
Westworld, which was based on Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton’s 1973 film, followed a group of highly-intelligent androids called ‘Hosts’ as they catered to the needs of their human guests in an immersive western theme park. The series starred a large ensemble cast led primarily by Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, James Marsden and Aaron Paul with Anthony Hopkins playing a lead role in the first season.
When it first premiered Westworld was a huge hit for HBO, drawing in record numbers and a dedicated fanbase who attempted to piece together the series’ clues to its multiple timelines each week. Viewership has steadily declined throughout its run though, never quite gaining the attention as the first season with season four being its lowest viewed yet. Nolan and Joy ended the fourth season in a way that could be a conclusion, but had plans to conclude the story in a fifth and final season should they have been renewed.
Nolan and Joy said through their Kilter Films company “Making Westworld has been one of the highlights of our careers. We are deeply grateful to our extraordinary cast and crew for creating these indelible characters and brilliant worlds. We’ve been privileged to tell these stories about the future of consciousness – both human and beyond – in the brief window of time before our AI overlords forbid us from doing so.”
“Over the past four seasons, Lisa and Jonah have taken viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step,” HBO said. “We are tremendously grateful to them, along with their immensely talented cast, producers and crew, and all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television. It’s been a thrill to join them on this journey.”
According to Variety, “a multitude of factors went into the decision to end the sci-drama, including the production’s hefty price tag, combined with dwindling viewership and an ongoing evaluation of programming across the board at HBO’s new parent, Warner Bros. Discovery.” WBD’s president David Zaslav has been making all kinds of cost-cutting measures since taking over which began with the cancellation of Batgirl in the middle of post-production for a tax write-down, cancelling several CW and HBO shows and taking series and films off HBO Max and other platforms, in some cases potentially never to be seen again due to taking them as tax write-downs.
While Westworld is closed, Nolan and Joy have already signed on a lucrative deal with Amazon Studios and recently premiered their new series The Peripheral starring Chloë Grace Moretz on the platform.
How do you feel about Westworld‘s cancellation? Are you satisfied with its ending or would you like to see how it was meant to conclude? Let us know on our social channels at @flickeringmyth…
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
