Here’s the thing about ‘Westworld‘, HBO‘s cowboy robot drama that captivated us all in 2016: it was plot-twist central. If you watched the thing week by week, and spent any time online, each plot twist was less of a big reveal and more of a gradual satisfaction that you – or at least, someone on Reddit with whom you agreed – were right.
Most other fandoms have to wait years for that kind of satisfaction (Game of Thrones‘ R+L=J, for example, or even Harry Potter‘s RAB). But for Westworld fans, it wasn’t just an addition to the show-watching experience, but an integral part of it.
At the 34th annual Paleyfest, Westworld creator and showrunner Jonathan Nolan revealed that Reddit had “already figured out” a major twist in season two, forcing the writers to pivot.
“Reddit has already figured out the third episode twist,” he said. “So, we’re changing that right now.
He pretended to get a bit narky about fans guessing the twists, which seems to have offended some of the more diehard fans on Reddit (“Why does he keep referring to us as if we are the enemy?”, etc):
“It’s annoying sometimes when people guess the twists and then blog about it, but the engagement is gratifying, on one level, because if someone guesses your twist, it means you’ve done an adequate job [of structuring the series],” he said.
“You can’t complain when people are that engaged. It’s very gratifying — but stop doing it, please.”
WARNING: if you haven’t seen season one, or if you want to go into season two with a mind unfettered, stop reading now.
The season one finale confirmed / revealed a bunch of twists, but perhaps the only one fans didn’t see coming was Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) killing Ford (Anthony Hopkins).
Immediately afterwards, however, fans began questioning if she really did.
#Westworld Theory: The host we saw Ford making in the diagnostic lab is actually a host clone of himself, which died and he’s still alive.
— Jim Kliss (@jimkliss) December 5, 2016
Clues pointing to this theory’s credibility are Ford’s handshake with Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) right before the massacre (earlier in the season, we learned that the old hosts could be distinguished from people by their handshake, and this was a very pointed handshake), and the fact that Ford was seen making a host in secret – but it was never revealed to what end.
By all accounts, it *might* just be the big S2 twist that writers are now forced to dance around. Or, maybe not. Look, we’re still waiting till 2018 to find out.
Photo: HBO.
