Westworld Canceled After Season 4, HBO & Creators Issue Statements

In a surprising move, HBO has canceled the acclaimed sci-fi drama series Westworld after four seasons on the network.

Following the announcement of the cancelation, HBO and the series’ creators released statements.

“Over the past four seasons, Lisa and Jonah have taken viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step,” the press release says. “We are tremendously grateful to them, along with their immensely talented cast, producers and crew, and all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. Television. It’s been a thrill to join them on this journey.”

“Making Westworld has been one of the highlights of our careers,” said Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s Kilter Films. “We are deeply grateful to our extraordinary cast and crew for creating these indelible characters and brilliant worlds. We’ve been privileged to tell these stories about the future of consciousness — both human and beyond — in the brief window of time before our AI overlords forbid us from doing so.”

Westworld had accumulated 54 Emmy nominations since debuting in 2016. Season 4, which premiered this past June, was described as “a dark odyssey about the fate of sentient life on earth.” In an interview with Deadline earlier this month, series co-creator Jonathan Nolan stated that he was hoping for a fifth season with which to conclude the series.

“We always planned for a fifth and final season,” Nolan stated. “We are still in conversations with the network. We very much hope to make them.”

Westworld was a dystopian sci-fi drama, based on Michael Crichton’s 1973 film of the same name. It is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the birth of a new form of life on Earth. It centers around a technologically-advanced amusement park, where human-like android hosts are programmed to fulfill each high-paying guests’ wants and desires.

Season four starred Evan Rachel Wood, Emmy winner Thandiwe Newton, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Luke Hemsworth, Aaron Paul, Angela Sarafyan, and James Marsden. Additional cast included Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, Aurora Perrineau, and Daniel Wu.

The Emmy-winning series was created for television by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy, who served as executive producers with J.J. Abrams, Richard J. Lewis, Roberto Patino, Athena Wickham, and Ben Stephenson.