Evan Rachel Wood says ‘Westworld’ cancellation was “awful” and keeps her “up at night”
Westworld actor Evan Rachel Wood has shared that she still doesn’t know why the series ended.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, she revealed that the series’ abrupt cancellation was “awful in a lot of ways” and that she has previously asked creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan about the intended direction of the successful HBO series, which had been running for four seasons.
The season four finale saw Wood’s character, Dolores, presented with the opportunity to give humanity another chance to survive in the dystopian future, leaving the show open for another series.
However, back in November, HBO confirmed that it would not renew the series for a fifth season, after they had faced declining ratings between season two and three.
Wood shared her thoughts on the abrupt cancellation: “It was devastating in a lot of ways because, first of all, they don’t tell us where the show is going. We were just always told, ‘We know how the show ends,’ when we started.”
She continued: “They weren’t writing it as we went along. They had an idea, and we were all just on a bed of nails waiting to see and hear what the conclusion of this was. What it all meant.”
“We didn’t get to have that and so after building an arc and a character for almost 10 years and not getting the payoff at the end to see where it was all going — I think for us and the audience, it was awful in a lot of ways,” Wood added.
The first season of Westworld aired in 2016 and gained HBO’s highest viewership rating for a premiere since the first episode of True Detective. The show went on to receive numerous accolades, including nine Primetime Emmy Awards.
Woods shared that she had spoken to Joy and Nolan about where they saw the show heading. She said: “I asked the creators after we got canceled, ‘Can you please just tell me how you’re going to end?’ And they wouldn’t tell me.”
“I think because, I don’t know, maybe somehow, someway, in some iteration we’ll get to finish it, but I still don’t know. It does still keep me up at night,” she added.
In other news, musician Marilyn Manson has been ordered to pay Wood’s legal fees of more than $300,000 after a defamation lawsuit against the actor was dismissed.
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Alex Berry
NME
