Westworld Season 2: Everything we know so far

Get up to speed on everything 'Westworld'

Evan Rachel Wood in 'Westworld.' Credit: HBO (Evan Rachel Wood in 'Westworld.' Credit: HBO)

Westworld arrived on HBO with a confidence rarely present in most TV shows - a sci-fi western hybrid that demanded both attention and intense analysis through its delivery of huge revelations throughout its ten-episode debut season.

Naturally, fans have been awaiting new episodes intensely since the season 1 finale which aired back in December 2016.

The season premiere saw the network's largest ratings for an opener since True Detective three years previous fully establishing it as HBO's biggest event series since Game of Thrones which is drawing to a close in 2019.

Showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have made no secret of the fact that Westworld will be around for some time - should HBO want it, of course - and that they already have five seasons of the JJ Abrams-produced show meticulously mapped out.

Here is what we know about the cryptic series' return.

Filming is officially complete

Thanks to members of the cast and production team's Instagram posts, we know that all ten episodes of season 2 have been completed.

Production was hit with a few obstacles. Back in November, filming was halted following an off-set injury of new supporting cast member Zahn McClarnon (Fargo) while just a month later, the set was exposed to the California forest fires. Filming resumed once everyone's safety could be guaranteed.

Release date

We *finally* have a date: 22 April 2018.

The initial confirmation fans had arrived courtesy of both HBO and star Evan Rachel Wood (Dolores) who revealed that season 2 would begin in Spring 2018 which was narrowed down to April following the seemingly accidental Instagram post of co-star Jeffrey Wright (Bernard Lowe) which cited the month as the series' return.

Some Reddit users predicted the show would return on either 22 or 29 April having taken into account the premium cable network's schedules. Considering the series needs to have aired five episodes before 31 May to be eligible for next year's Emmy nominations, it was a fair bet these dates would be correct.

Good news for UK fans - it'll air at exactly the same time on Sky Atlantic with the episode being repeated that evening at 9pm.

Plot

This being Westworld, plot details - unsurprisingly - are sparse. The only hints we have so far arrived in the full-length trailer which you can watch below, as well as another released during Super Bowl 51 which showcased Delos Incorporated's struggles to contain the breakout instigated in the season 1 finale in the form of robotic bulls running riot in the labs (HBO's first to appear during the sporting event in 20 years).

It seems things will pick up where events of the first left off with a gun-slinging Dolores Abernathy on horseback - a far cry from the character she was when we first met her - leading the host uprising as Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton) returns to the park to witness the usurping firsthand.

Reddit user Askin1 spotted something in the trailer which has led to an exciting discovery 33 seconds in, white bars appear on screen which - when read in binary code - equal 52.89.126.34. Stick that into a browser bar, and it relocates to none other than DelosDestinations.com (the company that owns Westworld).

Once here it seems to be revealed that there are a total of six parks in all, four of which are "closed to the public." Park two, however, boasts a blurry image hinting that we may be about to delve into a brand new attraction, more on which below.

Episode titles

Another clue potentially can be discerned from the rather ominous title of the season 2 premiere: 'Journey Into Night.'

Cast - who is returning?

Pretty much everybody is set to return with Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Ben Barnes and Ed Harris' the Man in Black all confirmed to appear.

Jimmi Simpson - recently seen in Black Mirror episode 'USS Callister' - will also return as the younger version of Harris' character teasing more details on “how that transition occurred.”

Clifton Collins, Jr., Simon Quarterman and Luke Hemsworth can also be glimpsed in the trailer.

Elsewhere, new cast members include Katja Herbers, Gustaf Skarsgård, Fares Fares, Jonathan Tucker, Betty Gabriel and the aforementioned McClarnon while Lost star Hiroyuki Sanada will play a mysterious new character called Musashi, a Funko Pop! figure of which confirmed him as a member of the previously teased Samurai World.

Samurai World was teased in the show's first season (Warner Bros. Television Distribution)

Original recurring characters Talulah Riley (Angela) and Louis Herthum (Dolores' father Peter) have been promoted to series regulars for the new season.

Whether Anthony Hopkins will return in some capacity as park creator Dr. Robert Ford remains to be seen following the fateful events of the first season. Time will tell...

Westworld will return to HBO and Sky Atlantic on April 22.

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