The second season of the American science fiction western television series Westworld, subtitled The Door, premiered on HBO on April 22, 2018, and concluded on June 24, 2018, consisting of ten episodes. The television series was created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, and it is based on the 1973 film of the same name, written and directed by Michael Crichton. The second season stars an ensemble cast led by Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Tessa Thompson, and Ed Harris. The second season has received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for the performances. However, it received criticism for its plot, which was said to be confusing.
Plot summary After killing Dr. Ford at the end of season one, Dolores converts and leads the other hosts in killing many of the other guests in the few weeks that follow. She seeks to find a way to get out of the park to continue her revenge, and knows she must recover her father Peter's "pearl" to do so and unlock Westworld's true secrets with it. Charlotte Hale, who was attempting to smuggle Westworld data through Peter, also seeks the host as she cannot call for extraction without that data. Bernard still struggles with the fact he is a host, and comes to learn that Dr. Ford still has significant influence on him and the park. Maeve is aided by Lee and Hector to find her daughter, while learning there are many other parks to Westworld. The Man in Black is forced to come to terms with why he has spent so much time in the park when he encounters his daughter Emily Grace.
Cast and characters
Main
Recurring
Guest
Episodes
Production The series received a second season renewal on November 14, 2016, with its debut occurring in 2018. Casting began in 2017, with a bulk of the first season's core cast confirmed to return for the new season throughout the year. Talulah Riley and Louis Herthum, who appeared as Angela and Peter Abernathy, respectively, were upgraded to main cast status in March. On July 11, 2017, Katja Herbers, Neil Jackson and Jonathan Tucker were among the new cast members to be announced. Gustaf Skarsgård, Fares Fares, and Betty Gabriel joined in August. It was announced on September 15 that Hiroyuki Sanada was cast in a major recurring role. Zahn McClarnon was announced as being cast on November 3, along with the news he had been injured in an off-set incident, causing a brief pause in the season's filming. An alternate version of the show's Super Bowl LII trailer revealed Peter Mullan had been cast, playing James Delos. An additional trailer in March revealed Rinko Kikuchi was cast as well. The cast was rounded out a few weeks prior to the season's April 22 premiere with Tao Okamoto, Kiki Sukezane and Julia Jones.
Filming Filming began in the summer of 2017, continuing to use the outdoor sets such as the Paramount Ranch and the Melody Ranch. Harris stated in an interview that, to ensure the production remain on schedule, scenes for episodes later in the season would be filmed simultaneously with earlier episodes. Actor Jeffrey Wright noted that many of Bernard's scenes with Anthony Hopkins' character, Dr. Ford, for late-season episodes were filmed first; in contrast to the first season where Wright had some idea of Bernard's arc, he had to make guesses as what the writers had planned out for Bernard in this season, and adjust his acting accordingly. As a result of the December 2017 Southern California wildfires, production was halted once again. Additional filming took place at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Millard House, which was used for Arnold's home in Shanghai, which at the time of filming had been on the market, making it easy to film in.
Music
Djawadi explained that he made use of seemingly-anachronistic cover versions is intended as "a subconscious reminder of the fact that this world is not real". Djawadi eventually came up with the idea of using a player piano to play modern songs, hoping to make an allusion to the hosts being machines "created to evoke human emotion", however showrunner Jonathan Nolan instead choose the songs that relate to the narrative, to allow Djawadi adapt them, without the composer necessarily knowing the details. Like the previous soundtrack, it is composed with several original songs alongside the covers of other popular songs. These songs feature Kanye West's "Runaway", Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer", The White Stripes "Seven Nation Army", Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box", The Rolling Stones "Paint It Black", and Wu-Tang Clan's "C.R.E.A.M.". The soundtrack was released on June 25, 2018.
Release
Broadcast The season premiere debuted on April 16 at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, on April 18 at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and had many early screenings around the world prior to its April 22 airing. Showrunners Nolan and Joy revealed that certain episodes will be "super sized", running longer than the regular 60 minutes per episode from the previous season.
Marketing During the 2017 San Diego Comic Con, an immersive experience was set up for attendees in addition to a panel held by the producers and cast of the series. The first trailer for the season was aired as well. A second, full-length trailer was aired during Super Bowl LII.
Reception
Critical response The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 85% approval rating for the second season based on 472 reviews, with an average rating of 7.95/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Westworld builds on its experimental first season, diving deeper into the human side of AI without losing any of its stylish, bloody glory." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 76 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
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