Featured Image Credit: HBO
Topics: TV And Film
On Friday evening, my Twitter scroll was interrupted by a headline that I did not expect to see. As you may now have heard, Westworld has officially been cancelled by HBO. I’ll admit, I’m yet to catch up on the newest season so maybe I’m part of the problem (It’s on my monthly to-do list) but even still, Westworld was once one of HBO’s flagship shows. Well, many thought that was still the case.
Westworld kicked off in 2016 to rave reviews. It’s a mind-bending series but the general concept is that Westworld is an advanced Wild West-inspired theme park populated by life-like robot ‘hosts.’ It’s a place where the rich can go to live out any fantasy they might have - even if that’s as dark as murder. The show ran for four seasons but will not return for a fifth.
Speaking of HBO, The Last of Us debuts on 15 January. Take a look at the trailer below.
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It’s certainly a series that requires intense concentration. The concept sounds simple but with each season the hosts gain more sentience. The scale expands beyond the park, turning global. Hosts switch between bodies. People you thought were real turn out to be hosts. It’s not your casual watch. Maybe that’s the problem. Despite its initial popularity, Westworld’s viewing figures slumped with the release of each subsequent season.
It’s still got a major fan base though and those fans have started a petition. What’s terrible for fans is that Westworld was only scheduled to run for one more season and so they’re hoping that HBO will give them the conclusion they were so close to receiving. Over on change.org, the petition has already received over 5,000 signatures and that number is increasing by the minute.
Series producers already have the story for the final season mapped out, plus Westworld’s principal cast members are still being paid for season five despite the fact that it’s not being made, weirdly. This group consists of Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Harris and Aaron Paul. If HBO is already paying out on season five, maybe they could expand the budget a tiny bit further ... Please give us a conclusion.