HBO has canceled “Westworld” after four seasons, the channel announced Friday. The news comes just under three months after the Season 4 finale aired on August 14.
Variety A multitude of factors are said to have gone into the decision to end the sci-fi drama, including the high price of production, combined with declining viewership and continued evaluation of programming across the board. at HBO’s new parent, Warner Bros. Discovery.
The David Zaslav-led company has cut spending as part of a plan to institute $3.5 billion in cost-cutting synergies, which the company has promised to find over the next three years after the merger of April. However, even on the heels of a third quarter rough earnings report, Zaslav continued to stress the importance of healthy content spend, and HBO has several high-profile big-budget dramas that make it clear the premium cabler doesn’t. cuts no returns across the board, including “House of the Dragon,” “Euphoria,” and the upcoming adaptation “The Last of Us.”
Created by husband and wife producer duo Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy and produced by JJ Abrams, “Westworld” starred Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Luke Hemsworth, Aaron Paul, Angela Sarafyan and James Marsden. Newcomers for Season 4 included Ariana DeBose, Aurora Perrineau, and Daniel Wu.
“Over the past four seasons, Lisa and Jonah have taken viewers on a breathtaking odyssey, raising the bar with every step,” HBO said in a statement Friday. “We are extremely grateful to them, their immensely talented cast, producers and crew, and to all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television. It has been a pleasure to join them on this journey.
Nolan and Joy added in their own statement through the Kilter Films banner: “Making ‘Westworld’ was one of the highlights of our careers. We are deeply grateful to our amazing cast and crew for creating these indelible characters and shining worlds. We have 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 prohibit doing so.
“Westworld” debuted in October 2016. The series centered on the titular technologically advanced amusement park filled with AI “hosts” in a Wild West setting. The show expanded its reach outside of Westworld in season 2 to nearby theme parks owned and operated by the same fictional dystopian corporation, then ventured into the “real world” in all its futuristic glory in its third season. The eight-episode fourth season of “Westworld” premiered on June 26.
The premiere of the “Westworld” series scored HBO’s highest viewership for a premiere since the launch of “True Detective” in 2014. After that, the sci-fi drama’s first season became the year’s most most-watched of all HBO original series. . However, his ratings have dropped each season, culminating in a dramatic fall in Season 4.
Based on the 1973 film of the same name written by Michael Crichton, HBO’s “Westworld” was produced by Nolan and Joy alongside Abrams, Alison Schapker, Denise Thé, Athena Wickham, Richard J. Lewis and Ben Stephenson.
The series has been nominated for 54 Emmys and earned nine wins, including the Newton Trophy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2018.
“Westworld” comes from Nolan and Joy’s Kilter Films, which is currently under a global deal with Amazon Studios, and Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, which is under a global deal with WarnerMedia, in association with Warner Bros. Television.
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