Not unlike Game of Thrones before it, Westworld, HBO’s other flagship fantasy series, isn’t one to skimp on violence.
Throughout its 10-part debut, which became the most-watched first season of any HBO original series in history, Westworld blew the doors off with a deeply provocative, multi-layered story of human indulgence and artificial intelligence, not to mention the anarchy that can ensue when those two things are at odds with one another. These violent delights have violent ends, after all.
But in anticipation of season 2, co-creators and executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have hinted at a “disturbing” bloodbath still to come. And that’s even after the mind-melting revelations included in season 1’s super-sized finale, “The Bicameral Mind.” While attending last night’s Emmys, Nolan and Joy spoke to TVLine about the violence yet to come on Westworld, along with the welcome announcement that Lisa Joy will make her directorial debut via the untitled season 2, episode 4.
“You’ve made it far more violent and disturbing than we ever intended. It was quite a placid episode, and Lisa has kind of turned it into a bloodbath.” That’s not to say that Joy wasn’t nervous about taking the reins for the first time, as she joked with Ausiello tha, “It’s like somebody handed me a Ferrari and said, ‘Try driving it – don’t crash.'”
The show’s key players then went on to touch base on how season 2 differs from the first, including the ways in which Westworld season 2 handles the impending Host takeover. HBO’s wildly ambitious and long-delayed drama may have hit the ground running late last year, and left a stellar first impression while doing so, but it appears Nolan and Joy are just getting started.
Assuming the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones really is held until 2019, and chances are it will be, then 2018 belongs to Westworld season 2. Expect HBO’s brainy sci-fi to return sometime in the spring.
