Westworld showrunners say third season will be less of a guessing game

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Over the past two seasons, Westworld has presented audiences with a series of twists and turns (some of which where figured out early on), but it seems that the upcoming third season will be pulling back on the mysteries a little bit. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Westworld showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy said that the new season will be "a little less of a guessing game and more of an experience with the hosts finally getting to meet their makers."

The android hosts have largely been contained within the Westworld park throughout the series, but the finale of the last season found Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) escaping into the outside world for the very first time, setting the stage for a very different third season with new locations and new characters. "I love shows that find a groove and hang with it for 100 episodes — that was never this show," Nolan said. "We always wanted every season to find our characters in radically different circumstances. And with a cast this talented, watching the metamorphosis of all these characters is one of the most fun parts." Lisa Joy added that the story-line will be more linear this time around.

We’re looking at the aftermath of the massacre in the park. After all they went through to get out of the park, Dolores finally got what she wanted, so we wanted to see how she interacts with the world and what her plan is. That’s a part of the story we were excited to tell.

One of the new additions to the third season is a mysterious character played by Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul. While Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy wouldn't reveal much about Paul's character, they did say that he plays "a construction worker in Los Angeles named Caleb who has a strong impact on Dolores, who along with other hosts experiences major 'culture shock' now that she’s in the real world." Nolan added that Caleb will challenge Dolares' notions on the nature of humanity, as he's not exactly the type of person who can afford to go to Westworld.

The third season of Westworld will premiere on HBO in 2020.