David Farnor | On 02, Apr 2018

“Did you ever stop to think about your actions? The price you’d have to pay if there was a reckoning?” That’s Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) in the new trailer for Westworld Season 2, teasing the kind of chaos and retribution we’ve come to expect from HBO’s sci-fi series. But, in a move that’s just as typical for the intricately constructed show, this new trailer for the show also hides a secret, second trailer.

The main video is a delightfully stylised affair, with Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana getting the Ramin Djawadi treatment on the soundtrack, Jeffrey Wright’s Bernard pondering the meaning of his dreams, and Thandie Newton’s Maeve raising merry justice all over the robot-staffed theme park that has completely malfunctioned – much to the pleasure of Ed Harris’ Man in Black.

HBO promises a “dark odyssey [that] follows the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin”, and that’s certainly on the cards, judging by what we can see:

Look beyond that, though, and there’s a hidden trailer. Spotted by the ever-vigilant Westworld fans on Reddit, a seemingly innocuous prop contains a binary code that spells out the URL for a new domain, DelosIncorporated.com.

Taking you to a page titled “Freedom”, it loads up an advert for Delos, the company that made Westworld, but one that’s full of creepy glitches:

Wait until the end, though, and you’ll see the message “Logged:XOMEGACH STAND BY FOR DIRECTIVES”. You won’t need Reddit to help with the next step: if you go to the homepage for that site, there’s a login page, and the word “Xomegach” will take you to another interactive page, where you can navigate between a lot of different blue dots. Presumably soon to become links to various Easter eggs, one of them is currently active and plays another short video. The main message of that? “Find Peter Abernathy.”

Peter, of course, was Dolores’ father, played by Louis Herthum in Season 1 for a few episodes. But previous reports have confirmed that he’s been upped to a series regular for the show’s sophomore run. The new video, then, teases just how important he’s going to be, as one of the first robot hosts to begin to escape his programming.

He’ll be joined by new cast members Gustaf Skarsgard (Vikings’ Floki) as Karl Strand, a white-collar Delos man comfortable in the field, Fares Fares as Antoina Costa, a tech guru, and Betty Gabriel as Maling, trying to restore order on the ground. Other regular or recurring stars will include Katja Herbers as Grace, a veteran visitor of the park, Neil Jackson as Nicholas, and Jonathan Tucker as Major Craddock, a military officer. Alongside Herthum, Talulah Riley (Angela in Season 1) has also been promoted to a series regular.

Still to catch up with the first season? You can read our reviews here, or start catching up now on Sky Box Sets. Don’t have Sky? You can also catch up on NOW, which gives live and on-demand streaming access to Sky’s main TV channels, including FOX UK (Legion) and Sky Atlantic (Billions), for £7.99 a month – with no contract and a 7-day free trial. To get watching, click here – or, for more information on how to watch Westworld online in the UK, click here.

 

Chaos takes control in Westworld Season 2 poster and stills

24th March 2018

Chaos will reign in Westworld Season 2, the poster for the show’s return promises – and a bunch of new stills give us a hint of what that looks like.

Live without limits in a world where every human appetite can be indulged. That’s the motto for the theme park at the heart of HBO’s sci-fi epic, which is filled with robotic hosts designed to mimic, behave and think like humans. Based on Michael Crichton’s film of the same name, it was one of the standout shows of 2016, with Executive Producers J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy living up to the hype that usually meets HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Now, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), Teddy (James Marsden), Maeve (Thandie Newton), The Man in Black (Ed Harris) and Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) are coming back for Season 2 this April. HBO promises a “dark odyssey [that] follows the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin”.

The creators otherwise are keeping their mouths tightly shut on what to expect, with Nolan noting that they have plans to engage, tackle and play with the kind of fan theories that immediately surrounded the enigmatic first run.

“We’re figuring out how to sort of interact with that in the second season,” he said at SXSW last week. “A somewhat controversial plan that we’re working on; we’ll have an announcement about it in a couple weeks.”

Season 2 will premiere on Sunday 22nd April on HBO in the US, and will simulcast on Sky Atlantic in the UK at 2am, before repeating on 9pm on Monday 23rd April. That means you’ll be able to stream the episode on-demand at any time after the 2am debut, without having to wait for the 9pm broadcast. Until then, read on below for the new stills from the season – or start catching up with Season 1 now on Sky Box Sets (our reviews are here). Don’t have Sky? You can also catch up on NOW, which gives live and on-demand streaming access to Sky’s main TV channels, including FOX UK (Legion) and Sky Atlantic (Billions), for £7.99 a month – with no contract and a 7-day free trial. For more information, or to get watching, click here.

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