Fans of Westworld received a double dose of good news, as the sci-fi series was renewed by HBO for a fourth season and a new report suggests that the popular show is expected to run for six seasons total.
The renewal news was announced April 22 by HBO, just a few days before the third season’s penultimate episode airs. Confirmation of the show’s return was followed by an unofficial announcement via The Hollywood Reporter that the series’ full run is expected to encompass six seasons.
Westworld series creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan will continue to serve as showrunners on the series for season 4 and likely beyond. The writing and producing duo have a deal to create multiple projects for Amazon Studios, but their involvement with Westworld is reportedly locked in through the remainder of the show’s six-season run.
“From the Western theme park to the technocratic metropolis of the near future, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed every twist and turn from the minds of master storytellers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy,” said Casey Bloys, HBO’s president of programming. “We can’t wait to see where their inspired vision takes us next.”
Season 3 of Westworld premiered March 15, and while overall viewing numbers were down for the show, it remains one of the most popular original projects on HBO. The series is based on the 1973 film of the same name that was written and directed by Michael Crichton. It chronicles the events that transpire when the android inhabitants of a high-tech theme park evolve and rebel against the humans they were created to serve.
Over the course of the series’ first two seasons, some of the park’s android “hosts” developed sentience and moved to rid themselves of human control, staging a bloody uprising that quickly swept across several interconnected theme parks. The third season picked up in the aftermath of several hosts’ escape from the park’s borders and their competing efforts to find a place for themselves in the human world.
The first season of Westworld holds the record as the network’s most-watched first season of any original series produced by HBO.
With two episodes remaining in season 3, and two years between the end of the second season and the premiere of the third, there’s no word on when season 4 of Westworld is expected to arrive.
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