Westworld spoilers (mild ones) follow.
Westworld season four is all systems go – and now we just have to wait patiently for it to come.
Ahead of its arrival, president of HBO programming Casey Bloys said: "From the western theme park to the technocratic metropolis of the near future, we've thoroughly enjoyed every twist and turn.
"We can't wait to see where their inspired vision takes us next."
Speaking to Variety prior to the season four announcement, showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan revealed that their aim was to create at least one more season of the head-spinning sci-fi bonanza – and luckily, their wish was granted.
But what do they have in store? Here's everything you need to know about Westworld season four.
What to Read Next
Westworld season 4 release date: When will the new episodes air?
We have good news! Westworld season four will be back on Sunday, June 26 in the US, and will air weekly.
A UK release date is yet to be confirmed, but in previous years has been available the following day on NOW, and airs that evening on Sky Atlantic.
The news is a long time coming for fans considering we know (thanks to actor Jeffrey Wright) the show started filming in June 2021 and carried through all the way to December.
He went on to say (via Deadline) "Season four is going to be more of the Westworld you've come to expect and more digging down into some issues and some technology that is going to look familiar to us, as always. It's gonna be exciting. I'm not sure exactly when we're to air but within the coming months, certainly."
He had a lot to say when it came to his character Bernard Lowe and what Lowe has been up to during the hiatus.
"Bernard is still trying to solve it all and he is still very much a part of the struggle," Wright shared. "The struggle goes on and Bernard is right there at the center of it. It's gonna be fun."
The series co-creator, Lisa Joy, seemed to echo his sentiments.
In a previous interview on Deadline's Hero Nation podcast in August, Joy teased what's to come.
"You're going to see some new worlds that I think are really fun and you're going to see someone who I kidnapped from [Joy's movie] Reminiscence in a funny way."
Typically, there has been a two-year gap between seasons, with seasons one, two and three being released in 2016, 2018 and 2020 respectively.
More on the plot below.
Westworld season 4 cast: Who will be in it?
Westworld cast members are luckier than most. Even if their characters are killed off, the actors can often return in a new host body, which means even casualties from season three could reappear later down the line.
Thanks to the HBO sizzle reel and now the trailer, we know for sure that some stars are returning.
This includes:
• Thandiwe Newton (as Maeve Millay)
• Jeffrey Wright (as Bernard Lowe / Arnold Weber)
• Aaron Paul (as Caleb Nichols)
• Luke Hemsworth (as Ashley Stubbs)
• Ed Harris (The Man in Black)
• Tessa Thompson as Charlotte Hale / Dolores Abernathy
• Evan Rachel Wood (as Dolores)
Some of these prove to raise more questions than they answer, particularly the return of Ed Harris as The Man In Black. He was replaced by a host after being killed by Thompson's "Halores", and she's now in control of him...
As for new additions, it's been confirmed Oscar winner Ariana DeBose will join them in a mysterious recurring role, according to TVLine.
Meanwhile, Thandiwe Newton boasted of the new series (via ComicBook): "It's so good, man. For me, no truly, for me, it's got all the best elements from one, two, and three are here. It is so rich and there's something about the pandemic.
"It's not literally, but I just think it's fed us all in a way, like our lives depend on art now in a different way. I mean, literally our lives depend on art because art is being removed from us."
As for Evan Rachel Wood, who played the original Dolores Abernathy, her future feels uncertain.
"I found out halfway through, or towards the end," Wood said of her character's fate on the Variety and iHeart podcast The Big Ticket.
"We really find out the arc of our characters episode by episode. We get a general idea at the beginning of each season; they tell us where our characters are at, what their mission is, and then go.
"Then we learn as we go. It's one of the reasons why I think it's challenging to work on, but also what makes it exciting," she continued. "So [co-creator Jonathan Nolan] called me up and broke the news to me.
"He said that she was going to die. He was very blunt about it, and slightly cryptic about other questions I had, but confirmed that yes, the Dolores that we know is gone."
Nolan confirmed that to Variety: "Dolores is gone. We love Evan Rachel Wood and we haven't started talking publicly about exactly what the show looks like going forward. But it looks very different."
"I think it's important with a show in which death can be impermanent – these are robots, after all – to mark the occasion with Dolores," said Nolan, adding: "That version of that character is gone."
So who exactly did we see in the season-four trailer if Evan Rachel Wood is no longer Dolores as we know her?
In further exciting news, Prodigal Son's Aurora Perrineau has joined the gang, according to Deadline, and is believed to feature in a minimum of five episodes.
Westworld season 4 plot: What's going to happen?
Westworld bosses Joy and Nolan have had a rough plan of what will happen since the very beginning, and now that the hosts have left the park, season four could very well be the end point for our favourite sentient robots.
If that's true, then all bets will be off as the war against humanity reaches a climax, promising even grander twists in the final episodes of season four.
Nolan previously spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the themes of season three, and these ideas may very well apply to season four as well:
"I think it's a radical shift. What's compelling and appealing about these characters is that they're not human. As we said in the show, humans are bound by the same loops the hosts are, in some ways even smaller," he explained.
"You couldn't expect human characters to withstand and survive the kind of story that we're telling. The hosts have a different version of mortality, a different outlook.
"I think clearly with Dolores, as she's laid out, there is a longer view here, a larger set of goals. They're existential. They span eons. And that's a fascinating level of story
to engage in."
Wright also chatted to The Wrap about what the season-three finale meant for his character Bernard, and how that will affect him going forwards.
"Bernard steps into The Sublime and at some point he steps out of it, it seems with a bit more information than he had previously," he said. "Perhaps with a bit more clarity than he's previously enjoyed.
"Now, the question of when it is that he comes out, I think, is a very simple one. I think we find him emerging from The Sublime after the pandemic has passed.
"He's come out of that thing fully vaccinated. [He's] ready to live a new and more free existence going forward. Where he's going, we don't necessarily know, but he's different than he was before he left."
Nolan has also spoken about what The Man In Black will mean for the characters in the next batch of episodes.
"I’m a big believer in being guided by irony," he said while speaking to The Paley Center for Media.
"[The Man in Black] winds up becoming this thing [a host] that he's controlled for so long. And on a visceral level, I just can’t wait to watch Ed kill everyone."
Yikes!
Meanwhile, Newton's hoping Charlotte and Maeve's relationship gets deeper (via Deadline).
"Hale, is fascinating to me now, as an extension of Dolores. I mean, it’s really interesting, isn’t it? It’s like the apple falling far from the tree and all that. It is really interesting that Dolores has spawned these children basically because they very quickly separate themselves from her," she said.
"I mean, I loved that evolution and they start with Hale just so distraught and clinging to her creator, Dolores, and by the end she wants to destroy her creator. It’s an interesting trajectory. So yeah, I’m fascinated in how Maeve will, if she plays into that.
"And you know, Maeve's relationship with Caleb, that's interesting, too, because we've had very little of that. I don't think it's going to be as simple as Caleb just continues the work that Dolores is doing.
"Although why has Dolores put him in that position? Is she really that interested in humanity having a leader? Why? Is it just an experiment for her? Step out to pop up to a whole other planet and start doing shit over there? I just think it's worlds within worlds."
Newton continued: "So, I'm talking to Lisa in general at the very, very beginning, all those years ago, they have stuck to their initial plan of where this is going. In fact, they've been able to continue that, and I know that because there are times when we think, God, that character isn't back and oh, my God, why would they get rid of that?
"And it's because they are so connected to what their intention was in the beginning. They’re not swayed by audience appeal or fandom or any of that. They want to tell a story that they imagined a long time ago and they're going to stick to it, and I love that."
Westworld season 4 trailer: When can we see it?
The trailer dropped on May 10, 2022, and as always has kept things under wraps.
Set to the ominous tune of 'Perfect Day' by Lou Reed, we see each character as they try and live their daily lives, or in some form of battle.
It doesn't look good for anyone involved.
While some are thriving, others are being turned into lackeys, with Tessa Thompson's character looking more than a little daunting.
We won't have too much longer to find out what's been going on.
Westworld airs on HBO in the US, and UK viewers can watch on Sky Atlantic and NOW.
![Westworld: Season 4 [4K Ultra HD] [2022] [Blu-ray] [Region Free]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1660725702-41ZTgl9RQPL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Westworld: Season 4 [4K Ultra HD] [2022] [Blu-ray] [Region Free]")
![Westworld: Seasons 1-3 [DVD]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1660725782-41i1IT7lEiL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Westworld: Seasons 1-3 [DVD]")
![Westworld (1974) - 40th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1575283972-51uGwlRzVL.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Westworld (1974) - 40th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray]")
Warner Home Video Westworld (1974) - 40th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray]
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