‘Westworld’ Has Been Renewed For A Fourth Season At HBO

Westworld‘s not done yet. HBO announced Wednesday that the Emmy-award winning series had been renewed for a fourth season, People reports. The show’s third season is currently airing on the network.

“From the western theme park to the technocratic metropolis of the near future, we’ve thoroughly enjoyed every twist and turn from the minds of master storytellers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. We can’t wait to see where their inspired vision takes us next,” said Casey Bloys, the president of HBO Programming in a statement.

Westworld is adapted from a 1973 movie of the same name. The series stars Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Thandie Newton, and Jeffrey Wright. Throughout its three-season run, the show has often considered the nature of artificial intelligence, and what it means to have free will.

The show was created by the husband-and-wife team of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Nolan also directed the third season premiere, which has passed 9 million viewers across all platforms, according to a press release.

Westworld first debuted in 2016. Since then, it has taken a year off in-between seasons. Given the production stoppages around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s unclear when the show might return for its fourth season. The third season premiered on March 15 and is set to conclude on May 3.

Although Westworld wrapped production on Season 3 months ago, the episodes are still in post-production. That means that even as its cast and crew are on lockdown as a result of the pandemic, they still have to find ways to get the episodes ready to air.

Newton got creative to finish an episode and posted a video of herself on Instagram recording audio for the show in her car because of the lockdown.

The news of a fourth-season renewal comes just a day after HBO announced the launch date for their new streaming platform, HBO Max. When Westworld‘s fourth season debuts, that will likely be where it’s available to stream for subscribers.

HBO Max will have all of the content that was available to HBO Now subscribers, plus some older series like Friends and The Big Bang Theory. The new platform was designed as Warner Media’s play to compete with Netflix, and it’s just the latest entry in the battle for streaming supremacy. In addition to older series, HBO Max will also debut with a wave of new content, including a comedy starring Anna Kendrick and a documentary about the accusations against record executive Russell Simmons, Variety reports.