Even by HBO’s lofty standards, Westworld was a huge success. Within a couple of episodes, audiences were hooked, with fan theories dotting up all over the internet and that fabled water cooler discussion going on all around the country. That success paid off in the form of sky-high ratings and an impressive 22 nominations at the Emmy awards.
Naturally, season 2 was a no-brainer from the word go, but it’s only now that we’re learning precisely what it’ll entail. We already know that the next season won’t continue the tangled timeline plotting that made the first outing such a pleasure to unravel and that rather than explore the immediate ramifications of the robot revolution that capped season 1, we’ll get to see the reactions of park guests to the carnage.
We also now know, as reported by Deadline, that season 2 will boast the talents of Jonathan Tucker (Kingdom, American Gods) and Neil Jackson (Nocturnal Animals, Sleepy Hollow). Tucker is to play a high ranking military man by the name of Major Craddock and Jackson is to play Nicholas, “a charming, resourceful man who finds himself in uncharted territory.” Presumably, this indicates that he’ll be one of the park guests beset by some extremely peeved robots. They’ll be joining previously confirmed newcomer Katja Herbers, playing a veteran guest caught up in the park’s “darkest hour.”
The vast majority of the season 1 cast also will return, with Talulah Riley and Louis Hertham being bumped up the food chain to series regulars. Anticipation is gradually building, then, but they’ll have to pull out some pretty serious stops to top what they managed in the gripping first season.
We’ll see what they came up with sometime in 2018, when Westworld season 2 premieres on HBO.