Westworld season 3 is nearly here, and it looks like everyone might get hooked on this AI obsessed HBO series all over again. Now that we've got a full trailer, we've got an inkling into how the series will spark our attentions, and the role that new high-profile cast member (Aaron Paul) will play.
While the first seasons of the series took us to the titular amusement park, the second iteration gave us multiple new parks, including Shogun World, a feudal Japan-themed park. Season 3 looks to shake things up with the real world, outside of the parks.
Will Westworld season 3 get us hooked again? Here's everything we know so far.
Westworld season 3 release date, channel
You can watch the Westworld season 3 premiere on March 15, 2020 at 9 p.m. Eastern on HBO. The 8-episode season will air one episode at that time on Sundays.
Is there a Westworld season 3 trailer?
The first full, official Westworld season 3 trailer arrived recently, and should get folks re-energized for the new season. This tease hypes an incoming civil war between the AI, with some still loyal to their masters, and one trying to sway humanity away. Oh, and there's plenty of action:
HBO released the first Westworld season 3 trailer at San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) 2020, teasing fans with footage of Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) walking around in the real world outside of Westworld's walls. "You and I have no mother, no father," she says, before talking about outsmarting their masters.
Other familiar faces include Maeve (Thandie Newton), who is in the World War II world and Bernard, seen poking around the Delos company's archive of retired robots.
Aaron Paul appears in the trailer as the new character Caleb, and he's hanging from a building at one point. We learned of this character in a teaser that debuted during the last season of Game of Thrones, and they appear to be a criminal who's struggling to survive.
A robot is gunned down, and Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) pats another robot. It's all chaos.
HBO revealed the Westworld 3 launch date arrived in a trailer centered around the concept of Divergence. The clip presents a timeline that highlights the Hong Kong Protests and the impeachment of Donald J. Trump (referred to as the 45th president of the United States). It then introduces events in our future, starting with a May 2020 ecological collapse in Indonesia.
The timeline appears to trace the decline of humanity as it exists in Westworld's story. April 17, 2039 is then presented as a date when a "system initiated" at an undisclosed location of 'Solomon' build 0.06 — the AI at the root of Westworld.
It ends at Feb. 2058, with an off-screen voice saying something wasn't accounted for, us. Or, at least that's one take. Clued in fans believe the "you" to be Dolores, the unlikely protagonist of the first Westworld seasons.
Westworld season 3 looks to test the limits of free will, or at least what happens without the lack thereof. We got a little taste of this possibility at CES 2020, when HBO invited us to a dinner that was "hosted by Incite," where all of our ordering decisions were made for us.
HBO even released a trailer for this Incite organization, which I’d wager plays a role in the struggles that Caleb (Aaron Paul) is enduring.
If that message was too subtle for you, check out this animated Westworld season 3 poster:
FREE WILL IS NOT FREE.#Westworld | 3.15 | @HBO pic.twitter.com/XCf0KRawR7February 12, 2020
Westworld season 3 main cast
Prominent new cast members include the aforementioned Aaron Paul, who's playing Caleb. The cast is rounded out with two other major new signings: Lena Waithe (The Chi, Master of None) and Vincent Cassel (Ocean's Twelve, Black Swan). Oh, and HBO vet Kid Cudi (How to Make It in America) is also going to appear in the season.
Returning cast members are listed below:
- Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy
- Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay
- Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe
- Tessa Thompson as Charlotte Hale
- Ed Harris as William / The Man in Black
- Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs
- Simon Quarterman as Lee Sizemore
- Rodrigo Santoro as Hector Escaton
Westworld season 3 theories and plot
From the above trailers, we can tell Bernard fears Dolores greatly, and that he's trying to find a solution to her potential rise to dominance. Our big-big question, then, is who's side will humanity take in this war? Is Caleb supposed to represent them?
In terms of more far-fetched theories, there's also some rumbling that this real world that Dolores is exploring isn't so real after-all. Yes, season 2's finale suggested that Dolores was breaking the seal between the parks she's used to and going into "our" world, but what if it's not?
Why's that? Well, ScreenRant is highlighting a particular phrasing, that season 3's theme is "The New World" — and that each park is referred to as a World (Westworld, Shogun World and the to-be-introduced War World, which has the look of World War 2 Italy).
