On November 4 HBO announced that Westworld, one of the most popular and beloved sci-fi show, won't be renewed for another season.
Westworld was one of the biggest shows HBO ever produced. Since its release in 2016, the show repeatedly earned awards, but it seems like the hype quickly shut down, as the show won't be renewed for season 5.
Maybe they want to focus on other, more promising projects:
Westworld started out as a mind-bending and thrilling question of what makes us human and what ethical problems might arise with the creation of human like androids. Looking at you, Boston Dynamics!
With this premise, it follows into the footsteps of all-time classics like Blade Runner, and did so with a charming western setting, absolutely fantastic writing and a great cast. The problem is, they weren't able to keep that up.
Following season 2, the writing dropped from awesome to Game of Thrones season 8 levels of disappointing. It feels like they weren't really prepared for anything following season 2 at all.
The show writers after Westworld season 2 be like:
This decline in quality reflected in the viewership numbers, that went down by more than 50%. No wonder HBO axed the project!
Westworld's main cast will still get paid for Season 5
This news is actually hilarious, but the main cast of Westworld will still be paid as if they had filmed Season 5. The reason?
HBO already paid for the cast, to secure their appearance in the upcoming season. Pretty much like pre-ordering a game, but no refunds in this case.
How about pre-ordering God of War: Ragnarök ? I'm pretty sure it won't suck.
The salaries the cast is owed for Season 5 are supposedly between $10M-$15M, which is quite a bit of money for not having to film a full season, or any part of it at all.
I guess this was still the cheaper option for HBO, as a full on production of another season would have costed them about $100M, with little to no expected profit.
They were quick to prove that they can make stupid decisions for their shows:
I'm still feeling a little sad for the fans of the show, as they were really close to getting a finale, which now has been canceled.
Maybe it is for the better, though, I would have preferred, if they had canceled Game of Thrones before this disaster of a final season.