The “one last game” tease and the “redemption story” of Westworld have been wiped away like tears in the rain by HBO’s decision to end the show after four seasons. After a great first season in 2016, seasons 2 and 3 of Westworld were much more controversial. Still, when Westworld came back after its usual two-year break in 2022, season 4 was a long overdue return to form.
Season 4 of Westworld was one of the best science fiction TV shows of 2022, and fans and showrunners were cautiously optimistic that HBO would give the go-ahead for a final fifth season. Unfortunately, HBO said in November 2022 that it was ending Westworld. Just like that, season 4 of Westworld ended, and the implied “one last game” in the last episode of season 4 concluded before it could start.
Has Westworld been renewed for a fifth season?
Surprise, no. Variety reported on Nov. 4 that HBO has pulled the plug on Westworld after four seasons. The news source said that the show was canceled for several reasons, including the high cost of making it, a drop in viewers, and an ongoing review of all programming at HBO’s new parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
In a statement about the news, HBO said, “Over the past four seasons, Lisa and Jonah have chosen to take viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step.” We are very grateful to them, their very talented cast, producers, and crew, and all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. Television. It’s been fun to go on this trip with them.”
Why was Westworld canceled?
Why did they stop making Westworld? At this point, no one has said why the show was canceled, but the huge amount of money it cost could be a reason, however, some sources have said that’s not true. It was one of HBO’s most expensive shows, costing between $8 million and $10 million per episode, as reported by the Hollywood Reporter. Its first season alone cost a mind-blowing $100 million to make in 2016. Location set design, and CGI that looked great would have cost a lot. Also, because the show was so popular, the actors’ pay would have gone up for the next season.
Overview of the Westworld TV Series
Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy made the American science fiction western TV show Westworld. It is based on the same-named film from 1973, which Michael Crichton wrote and directed, and, to a lesser extent, on the sequel Futureworld from 1976. The series is set in Westworld, a made-up amusement park with a Wild West theme and advanced technology where android “hosts” live. Westworld is for people who can pay a lot, and they can do whatever they want in the park without worrying about the hosts getting back at them.
Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Tessa Thompson, Ed Harris, and Anthony Hopkins are all part of the show’s cast. The first season started on October 2, 2016, and ended on December 4, 2016. The second season started on April 22, 2018, and ended on June 24, 2018. The start of the third season was on March 15, 2020. HBO said in May 2018 that the show would be back for a fourth season. But in July 2020, it was declared that the show would end after its fourth season.
The cast of Westworld Season 5
Some of the following characters could have come back:
• Thandiwe Newton as Maeve Millay
• Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe/Arnold Weber
• Aaron Paul as Caleb Nichols
• Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs
• Ed Harris as The Man in Black, aka William
• Tessa Thompson as Charlotte Hale/Dolores mk II
• Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores
• James Marsden as Teddy Flood
• Aurora Perrineau as Frankie Nichols (she’s alive, at least)
• Angela Sarafyan as Clementine
What would have happened in Westworld Season 5?
We’ll have to rely on our own ideas for now, but the end of Season 4 gave us a lot to think about. The ending scenes make it seem like we’re heading back toward the Westworld park, but it’s not the same place we’ve seen in the past. Dolores, who is now in the sublime, made this version based on her memories of the real park. She has set it up as a last test, which she calls “a dangerous game with the highest stakes: survival or extinction.”
Dolores will probably be looking for Teddy as well as hosting this experiment. She will be looking for the real Teddy in the sublime, not the version of him she made up in Charlotte’s world. During their sweet farewell, he tells her to come to find him, which we’re sure she’ll do. They are, after all, the foundations of each other. I don’t think they can be apart for long.
How did the fourth season of Westworld end?
One of the most popular shows that you can stream on Disney Hotstar is Westworld. The show has been wonderful so far, and fans are looking forward to the new season. Before you watch Westworld season 5, let’s quickly go over how the last season ended.
We saw how season 4 of Westworld ended with eight episodes. In the last episode, Teddy went away, and Christina reappeared dressed as Dolores. She walked away from Chalores, a city full of dead people that disappeared later. In the final part of the final episode, Christina fully changed into Westworld Dolores and was seen standing in Westworld park.
Why Season 4 of Westworld had a bad ending
Season 4’s ending is bad because it leaves open too many interesting questions and what-ifs. It’s also bad because Westworld’s ending doesn’t work without season 5. Because the ending of season 4, episode 8 isn’t clear, the most important part of the show’s story is probably still up in the air. There are some good reasons for endings that don’t give clear answers, but the showrunners have said that season 5 was always meant to be the real end of the series.
Given that Westworld’s showrunners often made up story arcs and plot twists on the fly in the middle of seasons, it’s frustrating to learn that they actually had plans for a fifth and final season. Westworld might not have deserved to have a fourth season, but still, it did, and it was great. HBO should have given Westworld season 5 the green light to finish the show’s comeback. Instead, the network stopped Westworld’s motor functions for no apparent reason.
Why is Westworld being removed from HBO Max?
The news came out on December 13, 2022, that Westworld would be taken off of HBO Max. This didn’t give fans many opportunities to catch up on the show’s four seasons. Back in August, the streaming service said on Twitter that some shows would be cut as a result of the merger between HBO and Discovery+. They said, “We’re making a few modifications to our services as we work to combine HBO Max and Discovery+.”
“Part of this process is taking out certain content.” Deadline said that Westworld would “likely return on other company platforms,” but they didn’t say when or where. Variety explained why the Emmy-winning show was taken off the air. Reporter Jennifer Mass said, “When shows are taken off of HBO Max, WB Discovery saves money by not having to pay residuals to the cast and crew of the shows. This is on top of the money it saves by not keeping the shows.”
It’s surprising because the show’s first episode had some of HBO’s highest ratings ever. In fact, its premiere had the most viewers of any HBO show since True Detective in 2014. The first season of Westworld was the most-watched first season of any HBO show ever, but since season four aired, its ratings have dropped by a lot. The show started to include parks other than Westworld that was owned and run by the same strange company, Delos. In season three, the AIs went into the real and wonderful future world. There were eight episodes in season four, which started on June 26, 2022, and ended on August 14, 2022.
