‘Westworld’ Bosses Talk ‘Chaos’ Plan for Season 2

At long last, HBO’s Westworld finally unfurled its major mysteries by Season 1 finale “The Bicameral Mind,” opening the door to a year’s worth of speculation before Season 2. Even so, producers tease that Ford’s new narrative will be “defined by chaos” in Season 2, which itself will explore “the dawn of consciousness.”

You’re warned of full spoilers through Sunday’s Westworld season finale, but it seems the Redditors certainly had their day: Not only is Jimmi Simpson’s William indeed Ed Harris’ Man in Black after some 30 years, but it seems Dolores was key to Arnold and Ford’s final maze, which involved the Hosts awakening enough to attack the Delos board, including Ford himself. It isn’t entirely clear where Season 2 will pick up in 2018, though executive producer Jonathan Nolan at least teased in a new featurette that the series would have less order going forward:

If the first season was defined by control, the second season is defined by chaos. That’s part of what we come to understand Ford has been planning all along … Ford has set in motion what he thinks is a plan. The nature of that plan is something we explore in the second season. What his intentions are: are they to let Dolores or the other Hosts escape? Are they simply to teach the human guests a lesson?

Executive producer and mystery box connoisseur J.J. Abrams also added “What happens at the dawn of consciousness? What happens when you begin to actually wake up?,” though it’s worth nothing the number of additional questions Westworld left for Season 2. The Man in Black may return, but what role has he in the robot rebellion? What of Tessa Thompson’s Charlotte Hale, or Maeve’s decision to search for her daughter? Will we see the Samurai world teased in her escape?

We’ll likely learn more of Westworld Season 2 in the coming days, but did Season 1 satisfyingly answer the big questions? What else should we hope for from Season 2, other than clearer fates for Elsie and Stubbs? Come on, guys, we’re holding out hope.