Underplayed Gems

Westworld (2016)

Westworld poster
Genre
drama television series, Westerns on television, science fiction television series
Country
United States
Length
4 seasons, 36 episodes
Rated
TV-MA
Rating
8.0 of 10 from 6,247 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Guests pay to live out fantasies in a Wild West theme park staffed by android hosts. The hosts begin to gain consciousness and challenge their programmed roles.

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What happens

Westworld is an American dystopian science fiction Western drama television series created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy that aired from 2016 to 2022 on HBO. It is based upon the 1973 film of the same name written and directed by Michael Crichton and loosely upon its 1976 sequel, Futureworld. The story begins in Westworld, a fictional, technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populated by android "hosts". The theme park caters to high-paying guests who may indulge their wildest fantasies within the park without fear of retaliation from the hosts, who are prevented by their programming from harming humans. Later in the series, the setting expands to the real world, in the mid-21st century, where people's lives are driven and controlled by a powerful artificial intelligence named Rehoboam. Nolan and Joy served as showrunners. The second, third, and fourth season followed in April 2018, March 2020, and June 2022, respectively. Nolan and Joy planned a fifth and final season, and were in negotiations with HBO to produce it, but HBO canceled the series in November 2022. The series was removed from HBO Max on December 18, 2022. Westworld's debut on HBO had the network's highest viewership ratings for a premiere since the first episode of True Detective, in 2014. Westworld's first season was the most-watched first season of any HBO original series, until The Last of Us debuted in 2023. The first season also received critical acclaim for its performances, visuals, narrative, themes, and Ramin Djawadi's soundtrack. Reception of the series declined from the second season onward, with criticism for the scripts, characterization, and narrative opacity. By the end of the fourth season's run, average viewership for the series had fallen by 81% compared to the first season. It received numerous awards, winning nine Primetime Emmy Awards out of 54 nominations. Thandiwe Newton won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2018. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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