TV SERIES · 2016–2022 · USA
Westworld
- Created by
- Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy
- Network
- HBO
- Seasons
- 4
- Episodes
- 36
- Studio
- Warner Bros. Television, Jerry Weintraub Productions, Bad Robot
38 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
A dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (38)
- #001
The series draws to a lesser extent on Futureworld, the 1976 sequel to the 1973 film.
- #002
Westworld is the second series based on Michael Crichton's original story, following Beyond Westworld.
- #003
Beyond Westworld aired on CBS for three episodes before it was cancelled.
- #004
Jerry Weintraub had pushed for a Westworld remake for years, and following his success with HBO's Behind the Candelabra he convinced the network to greenlight a pilot.
- #005
Jerry Weintraub brought the Westworld project to Jonathan Nolan and co-writer Lisa Joy, who saw potential in the concept for something far more ambitious than the original film.
- #006
On August 31, 2013, HBO ordered a pilot for a potential television series, with Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, J. J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub and Bryan Burk serving as executive producers.
- #007
Ed Brubaker served on the writing staff of Westworld as supervising producer and co-wrote the fourth episode with Jonathan Nolan.
- #008
HBO renewed Westworld for a 10-episode second season in November 2016, and that season premiered on April 22, 2018.
- #009
Westworld was renewed for a third season on May 1, 2018, with production beginning in April 2019 and the eight-episode season premiering on March 15, 2020.
- #010
HBO announced a fourth-season renewal for Westworld on April 22, 2020.
- #011
In 2016, Entertainment Weekly reported that the writers and producers had mapped out five seasons of Westworld; later reports in The Hollywood Reporter speculated about six seasons while confirming that Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy remained involved after signing a new deal with Amazon Studios.
- #012
HBO announced on November 4, 2022, that Westworld was canceled, and the principal cast received their pay for the canceled season.
- #013
After Westworld was canceled, the series was among several titles removed from HBO Max in December 2022 as part of cuts at Warner Bros. Discovery following their merger, so it could be shopped to free ad-supported streaming networks.
- #014
Following the cancelation of Westworld, Nolan and Joy said they had been privileged to tell stories about the future of consciousness, both human and beyond, in the brief window before AI overlords forbid it.
- #015
J. J. Abrams proposed that Westworld be told from the perspective of the hosts, an idea Nolan said the writers embraced and pushed further, even inverting the narrative where possible.
- #016
For Westworld, Jonathan Nolan drew inspiration from video games including BioShock Infinite, Red Dead Redemption and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, where the writer must build a narrative in which the hero's morality exists on a spectrum.
- #017
During research for Westworld, the writers used Sergio Leone's films as reference points for characters and visuals, Philip K. Dick's novels to explore dilemmas about artificial intelligence, and the Grand Theft Auto games for world-building and interlocking narrative.
- #018
The notion in Westworld that data in the hosts' memories persists unless physically removed came from Nolan's engineer uncle, who told him the NSA would triple overwrite hard drives and then drill holes in them to ensure the information was destroyed.
- #019
Westworld co-creator Jonathan Nolan said the series used its paying-guest characters to examine why violence features in most stories people enjoy watching but is not part of what they like to do.
- #020
The way non-player characters exist autonomously in video games shaped how Westworld approached its individual storylines, which reset in a continuous loop.
- #021
In Westworld, the line "These violent delights have violent ends" from Romeo and Juliet serves as a virus trigger inside the hosts, changing how they perceive their existence.
- #022
Westworld explores the bicameral mind theory of psychologist Julian Jaynes, who proposed that each half of the brain had separate functions: a 'god' half that analyzed and synthesized language commands sent through neurons to a 'man' half that heard them as external and obeyed automatically.
- #023
After the first season of Westworld finished airing, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy said they had kept most actors on a strict "need-to-know" basis so the story would stay fresh and present for them.
- #024
Contains a major spoiler — show
For Evan Rachel Wood, Nolan and Joy gave unusual acting directions without explanation, and it took her some time to work out that she was playing five separate characters within one host: four behavioral modes for Dolores plus one for Wyatt.
- #025
Anthony Hopkins was told about Ford's general story arc when he was pitched the role, so that he could convey the character's complexity in his performance.
- #026
Even with that advance knowledge, Anthony Hopkins received heavily redacted scripts for Westworld and had to insist on being given access to complete scripts.
- #027
Westworld was shot on 35mm film with assistance from HD taps, a decision made early on.
- #028
To achieve a softer look, Westworld's filmmakers used Arri Zeiss master prime lenses with their coatings removed.
- #029
Westworld was primarily shot on Kodak motion-picture film, processed by FotoKem in Burbank and scanned by Encore Hollywood into digital intermediates for all takes suitable as dailies.
- #030
Steadicams were used to film the entire first season of Westworld because much of the series is seen from the hosts' point of view.
- #031
Westworld's first season used a handheld camera in some scenes of the last episode, serving as a metaphor for hosts who broke free from their programming and acted of their own free will.
- #032
The pilot episode of Westworld was filmed over a 22-day period in August 2014 in and around Los Angeles and in Moab, Utah.
- #033
Westworld was filmed at California locations including soundstages and backlots at Universal Studios and Warner Bros., the Paramount Ranch in Agoura, Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita, Big Sky Ranch, the Skirball Cultural Center, the Los Angeles Convention Center and the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood.
- #034
The Melody Ranch set used for Westworld's town of Sweetwater had previously appeared in Western films such as Django Unchained and The Magnificent Seven and in the HBO series Deadwood, and production designer Zack Grobler significantly upgraded it to portray an idealized version of the American frontier.
- #035
For Westworld, green screens were placed around the California sets to block modern objects such as parking lots so the California shots could later be merged digitally with exterior shots from Utah.
- #036
Westworld's guest-arrival scenes used a small train built for the 2013 film The Lone Ranger, arranged with the Fillmore and Western Railway, which also provided a few hundred feet of track and a pusher vehicle to move the train into the Sweetwater set.
- #037
Westworld's pilot episode was shot on location over five days in southern Utah, including Castle Valley, with many Utah locations such as Dead Horse Point State Park being "walk-in" areas where cast and crew had to hike in and out with all their gear.
- #038
To blend California sets with Utah scenery on Westworld, set walls were shipped to Utah for reverse angles of scenes first filmed in California; for instance, balcony conversations at the operations center were shot at the Skirball Center, while reverse angles were filmed at Dead Horse Point to suggest the center sat atop the state park's cliffs.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Westworld (TV series) — Wikipedia
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