Spoilers for Westworld season one follow.
This April, Westworld drought comes to an end. Season two of the breakout HBO show promises to open up the world of Delos beyond the wild west theme park. The Hosts are awake and consciousness brings a bevy of human emotions, the most prevalent being rage.
However, there’s much more to Westworld than the robot uprising. Showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan were careful to tell a self-contained story that also left enough breadcrumbs to build upon. Mysteries were as plentiful as liquor in the sleepy town of Sweetwater and beyond. Before the season premiere, let’s look at some of the biggest enigmas the second season may answer.
Where is Westworld?
The theme park of Westworld is huge. Even in the early days, Logan (Ben Barnes) tells William (Jimmi Simpson) that he’s never found the edge of the park. Not to mention we now know a second park based on samurai culture in Japan was in the works. That’s a lot of land. Where on Earth — literally — could a sprawling interactive park of this nature live? My money is on nowhere, it has to be another planet.
What Does SW Mean?
When Maeve (Thandi Newton) makes her escape at the end of Season One, she stumbles across a huge reveal: Westworld isn’t the only park the Delos Corporation is funding. The logo “SW” could stand for Samurai World, or Shogun World, or anything else. But just how far along is this new attraction? A tiger washes up on shore in the season two trailer but is the eastern counterpart to Westworld fully operational? If so, is it set during the end of the Edo Period, making it possible for Guests to travel within “the past” from one end of the world to the other?
Why is DELOS Keeping Guest DNA?
Did you know Delos Guests sign away the rights to their DNA? It’s true. Buried within the code of DiscoverWestworld.com ARG (Alternate Reality Game) is this little nugget of legalese.
“By entering the Delos Destinations Port of Entry, you acknowledge that Delos, Inc. controls the rights to and remains the sole owner of, in perpetuity: all skin cells, bodily fluids, secretions, excretions, hair samples, saliva, sweat, blood, and any other bodily functions not listed here. Delos, Inc. reserves the right to use this property in any way, shape, or form in which the entity sees fit.”
Considering the Hosts are organic matter encased within a synthetic nervous system, the implications here are concerning, to say the least.
HAVE OTHER HOSTS INFILTRATED THE MAINLAND?
When Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) reveals to Maeve that she is still following programmed orders, despite her belief that breaking free of her loop was her own doing, Westworld cracked open a tantalizing door. If Maeve’s programmed goal was to infiltrate the mainland, how many other Hosts are out in the world? How many other employees of Delos are Hosts? Have Host replaced real people without the knowledge of their friends and family? Combined with the knowledge that Delos is using Hosts to harvest DNA samples from horny guests, the possibilities are disturbing.
IS ROBERT FORD REALLY DEAD?
As the world he built began to unravel (or did it?) Westworld creator Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) allowed himself to be assassinated by Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) in front of the Delos board. That incident sparked the massacre of the only people trying to reign in Ford. So would a man who controls every aspect of his world allow such a thing? Or would he have sent a Host replica of himself in his place to give the other Hosts a chance to destroy his enemies?
WHAT IS DELOS END GAME?
What do these people want? At one point Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) mentions her employers aren’t interested in keeping the rich guests happy with a hedonistic theme park or two. But if the ultimate entertainment getaway isn’t the point, what is? Off the top of my head, my guess would be cracking the code of immortality, allowing humans to upload their consciousness into cloned bodies. Forever.
Wait. Just how old is Robert Ford anyway?
Image Credit: HBO
Stay in park with more Westworld stories!
- Watch the trailer for season two.
- Visit a complete Westworld experience.
- Could season two visit medieval and Roman worlds.
[brightcove video_id=”5236633573001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=”rJs2ZD8x”]
