While Season 1 of “Westworld” gave us plenty of terrain to explore within Delos Destinations’ hottest park, we spent the majority of our time delving into what goes on within the mind.
And while that is certainly fun and one of the best parts of the series (question the nature of your reality much?) fans still want to see what’s going on outside the park. Specifically in the real world.
Though Maeve (Thandie Newton) initially robbed us of that opportunity when she exited the train headed outside the amusement park to go back to find her daughter at the end of Season 1, we’re going to make our great escape another way.
Yes, “Westworld” showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have confirmed we’re leaving the park in Season 2, and not just to go check out the highly-dissected Shogun World teased in the first installment’s finale. (But, you know, we’ll go there too. Patience.)
“We don’t like to endlessly build mystery; we like to settle our debts by the end of the season,” Nolan told Entertainment Weekly for their latest cover story. “We want to feel like the show is rocketing ahead. The first season was a journey inward; this is a journey outward. It’s a search for what else is in the park, and what else is beyond the park.”
So where exactly are our hosts — or the humans who haven’t been killed in the robot uprising yet, for that matter — headed out to? Well, we can definitely say for certain they’re gonna be getting out of their quaint little town at the center of the park.
“This year is much more of a road show — Sweetwater isn’t home anymore,” Nolan said. “These hosts don’t live on the same time frame we do and don’t have the four-year life span of replicants [like in ‘Blade Runner’]. If left to their own devices, they could live forever. So our story has some real scope to it.”
And what exactly is the timeline for moving outward here?
“If we were to describe the show as one camera angle, it would be a steady pull out revealing more and more context,” Nolan said. “So as the hosts learn more about their world — and other worlds, and the real world — the audience is doing the same thing.”
Sigh. As always, more questions than answers.
“Westworld” Season 2 premieres on April 22 on HBO.