After four seasons, HBO has canceled its sci-fi series Westworld today. The series was created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy in collaboration with the premium cabler and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot. They had planned for a fifth and final season, but they were only in talks that ended with no renewal.
The show was based on the 1973 film of the same name by director and writer Michael Crighton. It followed a robot-centered theme park of the same name of the series where attendees could dive into the Wild West with no consequences. The story took a dark turn to an AI uprise that led to the robots (known as Hosts) winning by the end of season 3. The finale in August suggested that it would circle back to the original park to resolve the current conflict.
Westworld canceled by HBO after four seasons, with no reason cited
Westworld being canceled has been left without any known reason, but it has not been too surprising. The first outing was universally praised, with things becoming more divisive as the show moved forward with its story and further away from the parks. As the buzz died off, likely the series did too, with its frustrated fans leaving the park and critics taking up more issues in reviews. Still, it had a strong run with a strong cast of Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Luke Hemsworth, Aaron Paul, James Marsden, and more. It also had the accolades of a high-end HBO series, with nine Emmys and 54 nominations.
Although HBO canceled Westworld, Nolan and Joy are not out of working on big sci-fi projects with high concepts. They are adapting the popular RPGs franchise Fallout for Amazon Prime Video, which will star Walton Goggins and Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets). The series will land on Prime Video sometime next year, with no concrete date announced yet.