‘Westworld’ Season 3 Theory: Dolores Is In ‘Futureworld’ Not The Real World

SPOILER ALERT: This article discusses Season 3 of HBO‘s Westworld. Please proceed with caution if you have not yet viewed all available episodes and wish to avoid spoilers.

With only one episode out so far for Season 3 of Westworld, viewers are already working on new theories involving the futuristic sci-fi series. The latest theory, according to Esquire, sees Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) not really in the real world but in yet another theme park.

The Season 2 finale saw Dolores escape the Wild West-themed park in which she was a robotic host designed purely to please the desires of humans. Using the host of another, she set out into the real world, determined to wreak havoc there as well.

However, a fan theory being discussed on Reddit sees her being placed into a new theme park as a way to deal with the host. According to one Redditor, Dolores has been placed in Futureworld as a means to control her while also allowing her to think that she is manipulating things in the real world. And, it’s actually something that has already been hinted at in the Season 3 premiere of Westworld.

“How f**king ironic would it be if they had put a simulation within a simulation?” said a friend of Dolores’ boyfriend, Liam Dempsey Jr. (John Gallagher Jr.).

The conversation refers to the concept that the world they lived in was really just a simulation. However, some fans now question whether or not it was a hint being dropped that the world they saw Dolores in presently was the real world or merely a simulation.

If this were the case, Esquire suggests that Dolores is currently inside “another manufactured reality” in which “Delos theoretically stashed the rebellious hosts as a contingency measure to appease them.”

It certainly makes for an interesting theory. However, others argue that it should actually be considered Presentworld rather than Futureworld as Westworld is set in the year 2058. So, with that in mind, the technology would be advanced for viewers but not for the actual timeframe within the TV series.

It also seemed like a big cop-out to other fans, especially considering the last two seasons of Westworld have been set firmly within the theme parks and the show’s creators, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, have stated prior that Season 3 would exist largely in the real world.

However, for those who have seen the original movie on which HBO based their TV show, as well as its sequel, titled Futureworld, there actually might be some merit to this theory. The Futureworld movie is set two years after the massacre at Westworld and sees Delos “secretly cloning its wealthy and influential guests, then replacing the real humans with the cloned copies.” So, while this is not quite the same as placing the host Dolores in a simulation, it could certainly give a hint as to where Season 3 is headed.