Westworld season 2 finale: Jonathan Nolan confirms which character won't be returning for season 3

*Major spoilers below - you have been warned*

(HBO)

For a show that's remained somewhat hesitant to kill off anyone, Westworld delivered a brutal season 2 finale that ended the lives of several characters.

Such is the nature of the HBO series, though, that death isn't necessarily the end of these creation's journeys, especially the hosts.

However, there was one death in the finale that co-showrunner Jonathan Nolan has confirmed to be irrevocable - Elsie Hughes (Shannon Woodward) will not be returning in season 3.

Elsie was mercilessly gunned down by Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) when she realised Elsie was going to prove troublesome in keeping her dodgy Delos dealings to herself. She shoots her at point blank range which in turn sparks her downfall: Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) builds a clone of Hale, implants her with Dolores' consciousness and sends her on a mission... to kill the real Hale.

“Shannon Woodward is a phenomenal actor and lovely person and we had a fantastic experience working with her and would relish the opportunity to work with her again,” Nolan told Entertainment Weekly.

He continued: “It's a large ensemble cast and sadly we're saying goodbye to some people at the end of this season. But as always with this show, who remains and who doesn't is something we're having a lot of fun with. There's going to be a bit of a wait for a third season but we want to surprise and hopefully delight people with the way things progress.”

The finale also saw the death of numerous host characters - namely Maeve (Thandie Newton), Armistice (Ingrid Bolsø Berdal) and Hector (Rodrigo Santoro) - but this most certainly won't be the last we see of them; a fleeting moment towards the end of the episode sees lab technicians Felix and Sylvester asked to bring the hosts of their choice back to life. One whose fate Nolan is remaining coy over though is Teddy (James Marsden) who killed himself in last weeks episode. In the finale, Dolores passes his consciousness into the utopia world alongside several other characters - including Akecheta and Maeve's daughter - but Nolan hinted we may not see those characters again. Well, maybe.

“I think that's on the safer end of things to presume. But there's a big story we're telling here so... yeah.”

Another human character that seems to meet their end is Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman). While his death is yet to be confirmed by Nolan and co-showrunner Lisa Joy, the actor himself told Entertainment Tonight: “I'm not sure that anyone could survive that type of peppering with bullets, but at least he went out heroically and selflessly, which is a far cry from when we first met him in the first episode of season one.”