Westworld Will Not Be Returning For Season 5

Major spoilers ahead for Westworld Season 4. As Season 4 of HBO’s dystopian series Westworld winded to a close on Aug. 14, a natural question was on viewers’ minds: Will Westworld be renewed for a fifth season? It wasn’t until close to three months later that fans got their answer. On Nov. 4, HBO canceled Westworld, confirming the show will not be returning for Season 5.

According to Variety, several reasons factored into HBO’s decision to end the sci-fi show’s run, including a dip in viewership and its high production costs. In a statement, per Variety, HBO said, “Over the past four seasons, Lisa and Jonah have taken viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step. 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.”

Westworld’s creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan also responded to their show’s cancellation. “Making ‘Westworld’ has been one of the highlights of our careers. We are deeply grateful to our extraordinary cast and crew for creating these indelible characters and brilliant worlds,” they said in a statement, per Variety. “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.”

In a July 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, star Ed Harris seemed confident that there would be a Season 5 while also mentioning it was meant to be the series’ last. “We have one more season, which will start filming next April and May,” Harris said. “I have no idea where that’s going to end up.”

Even Joy had said that she and Nolan had more in mind for Westworld beyond Season 4. In a June 2022 interview, she told Deadline, “Jonah (Nolan) and I have always had an ending in mind that we hope to reach. We have not quite reached it yet.”

Westworld’s future had looked promising during Season 4. Based on the finale, it seemed like the series was going back to its roots by returning to the western theme park that started it all. Dolores had “reset” the world, bringing the original park (and perhaps some characters) back to life. “Maybe this time, we’ll set ourselves free,” she says, leaving viewers on a cliffhanger that would end up being the series’ final moment.