Plot Synopsis

Inspired by the 1973 theatrical film WESTWORLD, this 10-episode drama series is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the re-imagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged at Westworld -- a vast, remote park where guests pay top dollar to share wild-west adventures with android hosts. Dr. Robert Ford is the brilliant, taciturn and complicated creative director, chief programmer and founder of Westworld, who has an uncompromising creative vision for the park. His brilliant and quixotic head of the Programming Division is Bernard Lowe, whose keen observation of human nature provides him with boundless inspiration for his life's work: creating artificial people. Theresa Cullen is Westworld's head of Quality Assurance, who is responsible for keeping the park from sliding into unscripted chaos, and Elsie Hughes is a sardonic rising star in the Behavior Department, who is charged with diagnosing the odd quirks of behavior in the park's hosts. They're joined by Lee Sizemore, the head of Narrative, whose storylines tantalize the guests, while his temperament grates on his colleagues, including Stubbs, the no-nonsense head of Security, who is charged with monitoring host and human interactions and ensuring the safety of the guests. The series opens as another day of fantasy plays out in Westworld, but Lowe alerts Ford about incidents of aberrant behavior cropping up in some recently re-coded hosts. Meanwhile, in the Westworld town of Sweetwater, a rancher's daughter named Dolores Abernathy encounters a gunslinger named Teddy Flood in the street -- but their predictable narrative is upended by the appearance of a ruthless Man in Black, and, later, by a supporting host's unscripted encounter with an artifact of the outside world, where Dolores begins to discover that her entire idyllic existence is an elaborately constructed lie. Meanwhile, Maeve Millay, a razor-sharp madam in Sweetwater's brothel, is a genius for reading people and has a knack for survival, but her seen-it-all-before worldview is about to be challenged when her emotions are tweaked by Hughes in order to avoid a recall.

Season 2 of WESTWORLD premiered on Sunday, April 22, 2018 from 9-10:10pm ET/PT on HBO. In the extended season opener, "Journey into Night," the puppet show is over, and we are coming for you and the rest of your kind. Welcome back to Westworld. New cast members for the second season include: Fares Fares (Antoine Costa), Katja Herbers (Grace), Gustaf Skarsgard (Karl Strand), Hiroyuki Sanada (Musashi), Peter Mullan (James Delos), Rinko Kikuchi (Akane), Zahn McClarnon (Akecheta), Tao Okamoto (Hanaryo), Betty Gabriel (Maling), Jonathan Tucker (Craddock), Julia Jones (Kohana) and Kiki Sukezane (Sakura).

The eight-episode third season of WESTWORLD premieres Sunday, March 15, 2020 at 10pm ET/PT. A dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the birth of a new form of life on Earth, the show was created for television by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy, who are also executive producers. Returning cast members include Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores, Thandie Newton as Maeve, Ed Harris as Man in Black, Jeffrey Wright as Bernard, Tessa Thompson as Charlotte, Luke Hemsworth as Stubbs, Simon Quarterman as Lee Sizemore and Rodrigo Santoro as Hector Escaton. Joining the cast this season are Aaron Paul, Vincent Cassel, Lena Waithe, Scott Mescudi, Marshawn Lynch, John Gallagher Jr., Michael Ealy, and Tommy Flanagan.
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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.

On Tuesday, November 17, 2020 Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released WESTWORD: THE NEW WORLD Season Three on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD with all eight mind-bending episodes from this new world's latest evolution, along with close to two hours of spectacular bonus content including two EXCULSIVE featurettes. Following the aftermath of last season's Westworld massacre, "hosts" Dolores, Maeve, Bernard and Charlotte Hale begin a new chapter -- outside of the park -- exploring the "real world" and who they will become in the wake of their liberation. Over the course of 8 hour-long episodes, season 3 finds Dolores prepared to wage war on humanity and Bernard trying desperately to stop her, while Maeve reunites with familiar faces in a new realm -- and all discover that the world outside is as full of deception and predetermination as the one they've always known. You can now experience this next evolution in jaw-dropping 4K UHD resolution with all-new behind-the-scenes special features. A must own for WESTWORLD fans. Run Time Approx. 480 min. Buy and binge now! (Click the red "Buy DVDs" button on this page.)

BONUS FEATURES (Approx. 106 minutes)
- We Live in a Technocracy -- Exclusive to 4K UHD Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD
- Rico - Exclusive to 4K UHD Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD
- A Vision for the Future -- Exclusive to 4K UHD Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD
- Westworld on Location -- Home Entertainment Exclusive
- Escape from Westworld
- Exploring War World
- Creating Westworld's Reality: Parce Domine
- Creating Westworld's Reality: The Absence of Field
- Creating Westworld's Reality: The Mother of Exiles
- Creating Westworld's Reality: Genre
- Creating Westworld's Reality: Decoherence
- Creating Westworld's Reality: Passed Pawn
- Creating Westworld's Reality: Crisis Theory
- Welcome to Westworld: Evan Rachel Wood & Aaron Paul -- Analysis
- Welcome to Westworld: Evan Rachel Wood & Aaron Paul - Who Said It?
- Welcome to Westworld: Thandie Newton & Tessa Thompson -- Analysis
- Welcome to Westworld: Thandie Newton & Tessa Thompson - Who Said It?

Seven months earlier -- on Wednesday, April 22 -- HBO renewed WESTWORLD for a fourth season.