Anna Daniels
Westworld season 3 arrives this weekend, and if you’re curious about what’s in store, perhaps this new featurette can help. Titled Escape From Westworld, the behind-the-scenes video delves into what’s going down with season 3 – a season that strives to change things up a bit, and bust free of the same old, same old we’ve come to expect from the series so far.
Westworld Season 3 Featurette
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b09pPq_dHEA?feature=oembed&w=740&h=416]
Westworld season 2 ended with a sign of big change to come: Several of the main characters finally got out of the park, and into the real world. Season 3 picks up where that left off, with several robots, aka hosts – like Evan Rachel Wood‘s Dolores, Tessa Thompson‘s Charlotte Hale (who used to be human, was killed, and then turned into a robot), and Jeffrey Wright‘s Bernard – out and about in our world. This is like a reversal of the first two seasons, in a way, where humans were coming into the host’s world, and now the hosts come into the world of humans. As Wright says in this video, the hosts become the guests in this “new park.”
Series co-creator Jonathan Nolan talks about how the first two seasons focused on the hosts, and with season three they wanted to focus more on humanity. That explains why there’s a new main human character – Caleb, played by Aaron Paul. Another neat tidbit from this video: It’s revealed that skylines from Singapore, Spain, and Los Angeles were all combined together to create the futuristic skyline of the real world we see this season.
I’ve seen the first four episodes of season 3, and I mostly enjoyed them. I still think this series has a serious problem with relying too heavily on the so-called mystery box. But the change of setting does breathe new life into the show, but the series is also too quick to fall back into familiar habits. As I said in my review:
There’s plenty of wiggle room here for Westworld to be something new and exciting, but the series seems completely incapable of committing. It only dips its toe into new waters, only to quickly withdraw. It’s as if showrunners Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan are afraid to stray too much from what they know. This isn’t to say that Westworld should’ve recreated itself as a completely new series. But after the murky season 2, it was clear that the show needed a new approach – and that never happens here. Adding Paul as a new main character seems novel at first, but he quickly takes a backseat to everything else.
Westworld season 3 premieres March 15.
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