“Amazon”Fall” came swinging from the door. Unafraid to be completely himself, leaning into the zany atmosphere of the beloved franchise, “Fallout” in live-action show form not only stole the hearts of its fan base, but also generated renewed interest in the franchise. long dormant among those who were not familiar with its post-apocalyptic mold.
But another long-dormant franchise found its own prominence amid the growing fame of “Fallout.” Released in 2016 and directed by “Fallout” showrunners themselves, Lisa Joy and Jonathon Nolan, “Westworld” also took the world by storm with its portrayal of a band of androids in the midst of sentience.
Subsequent seasons, however, saw “Westworld” barely fail with most viewers and critics. HBO inevitably cancel the show after its fourth seasonwhich left a lot (pun totally intended) of narrative beats on the table ready for closure.
Amid the press tour leading up to the release of “Fallout,” Nolan was asked about the potential of returning to this robot-ruled future in an interview with the hollywood reporter. While most fans have moved on, I’m still stung by that fifth and final installment, as are its creators, who “would like to finish the story we started.”
I may be one of the few who still thinks about it, but “Westworld” deserves a return to form and a finale worth the true potential its first season deserved.
Returning to his western roots
“Westworld” has its origins in the 1973 film of the same name. It is the brainchild of “Jurassic Park” writer Michael Crichton, who directed and wrote the script for the film starring Yul Brynner. “Westworld” was by no means an Academy Award-winning epic, but it still did well with critics at the time and spawned not one but two subsequent sequels in the 1976 film “Futureworld” and the television show from CBS’ 1980 “Beyond Westworld.”
At the heart of what made the original film so special was its Western iconography, further enhanced thanks to Brynner’s riveting villainous performance. Similar elements are used throughout the HBO show’s run, which focused primarily on the Western theme park as opposed to its other wings, which included a Japanese-inspired Shogun world and an Indian-inspired Raj world.
The third season of “Westworld” was intended to be the furthest yet. The main characters, Dolores and Bernard, had finally escaped the clutches of the theme park, now able to traverse the outside future world of 2053. It set a whole new tone, contesting new talent led by Aaron Paul and Vincent Cassel, but it was not to be . help revitalize the fandom.
Despite the lackluster appeal of “Westworld” season three, I was still on the edge of my seat. Experiencing the world of the future in new and exciting ways always captures my imagination and I was very excited to see what Nolan and Joy would bring to the table. They certainly delivered on that with extravagant fashion statements, autonomous vehicles, and a sniper/drone combo that any Cyberpunk 2077 player would crave.
The fourth season didn’t do much to recapture the fanfare either. It took viewers to the distant future, when the hosts of the famous Westworld theme park barely became the writers of their own destiny and humans became mere toys. As interesting as he is on paper, he still did little to draw viewers in to his appearance, but season 4 nonetheless ended on a promising note for long-time “Westworld” fans: a return to its roots. Westerners.
Closing the cycle of five seasons
Series creator Jonathon Nolan always intended to conclude “Westworld” over a span of five seasons. HBO, however, not only canceled the series after its fourth season, but also pulled all the episodes from Max. “Westworld” now doesn’t even have a real home to call, with fans relegated to rental services and, occasionally, free affiliates like Tubi.
The way “Westworld” was handled in its final moments still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. There is clear promise in its heady sci-fi world, one that revels in similar questions currently permeating the public consciousness, chief among them the prowess and dangers of artificial intelligence.
Based on real world concepts GPT-4o by OpenAI and Google Gemini Flash 1.5, the creators of “Westworld” could find fascinating new ways to merge the future with the Western landscape. With Season 4 ending with the potential to return to the Westworld theme park in a whole new way, Season 5 could become one of its most exciting entries, but even better thanks to the ways AI is directly impacting our daily lives. .
Nolan won’t give up either. In the aforementioned interview with THR, he states that he and his team are “completers.” He adds that 2014’s “Interstellar” was an eight-year process to conceive, which could mean that hope for a “Westworld” revival is far from over.
Even if a season 5 isn’t possible, a climactic movie could be in the cards. Look no further than HBO’s other franchises in “Deadwood” and “The Sopranos” to see how those additional narrative beats fared in bringing those narratives to audiences old and new. If anything, the revival of “Westworld” in movie form could shed a whole new light on its previous seasons and could well make viewers question (and perhaps even re-question) the nature of their own reality.
It’s clear, however, that “Westworld” is behind me and I’ll have to find a way to live with the story as it’s told. But part of me wants to live out its sci-fi future one last time, if only to experience what could have been in its final chapter. Perhaps these violent pleasures have no end after all.
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- This is the game I’m playing to prepare for Fallout Season 2.
