Westworld showrunner promises season 2 will 'f*** with Reddit as much as possible'

'A somewhat controversial plan that we’re working on; we’ll have an announcement about it in a couple weeks'

What else is there for Westworld fans to do while they wait for season 2 to hit screens other than theorise? Theorise and theorise, then theorise a little more.

That’s certainly the takeaway you’ll get from dipping your toe into the show’s Reddit community, one that its makers are all too aware of. Although don’t expect to get your wishes.

Showrunner Jonathan Nolan told the crowd at SXSW that the new season will deliberately interact with the fan theory community, hoping to “f*ck with Reddit as much as possible.”

“True Detective had a lot of fan theories that proved to be theories. There are lot of theories about Westworld’s first season that proved to be plot twists,” he said. “I think for every fan theory, we actually had an episode that dealt with it.”

“We’re figuring out how to sort of interact with that in the second season. A somewhat controversial plan that we’re working on; we’ll have an announcement about it in a couple weeks.”

“It’s incredibly gratifying to see people put that much work — not just into deciphering the season, but the fan art and music. The creativity you see coming back at you when you’re making one of these things is extraordinary.”

The panel saw stars Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, and Thandie Newton sit down to discuss the future of their characters; Elon Musk even made a surprise appearance at SXSW to discuss the recent SpaceX launch with Nolan.

“There are a lot of negative things in the world — a lot of terrible things happening all the time, lots of problems that need to get solved — but life cannot just be about solving one miserable problem after another. There needs to be things that inspire you, that make you glad to wake up in the morning and be part of humanity.”

“Earth is the cradle of humanity, but you cannot stay in the cradle forever. I find that incredibly exciting. That makes me excited to be alive, and I hope you all feel the same way.”

Musk and Nolan had worked together on creating a two-minute trailer utilising footage from the launch. Set to David Bowie’s “Life on Mars”, the video captures Falcon Heavy’s launch, including footage of the Tesla car on board floating with a dummy named Starman.

Nolan added: “Obviously, we’ve got a lot of problems on this planet, but one of the beautiful things about space flight is that it’s all of us working together. And we were trying to think of an image, something to shock people, and what we came up with was a red sports car and a David Bowie song.”

Jeffrey Wright had previously teased the scale of season 2, describing it as “just nuts, literally right out of the gate. It’s so much more expansive, it makes the first season look like a genteel kitchen drama.”

Westworld season 2 hits HBO 22 April, being simulcast in the UK through Sky Atlantic and NOWTV.

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