WESTWORLD Cast Will Still Be Paid For Season 5 Even Though The Show Was Cancelled
Last week, it was announced that HBO canceled Westworld after its fourth season. Co-creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy were hoping for a fifth season to close out their story, but the ratings for the series have been dropping since Season 3, and when Season 4 was released, the ratings dropped even more. So, it’s not a surprise that the show got the axe.
We’re now learning from Deadline, that even though we won’t be getting a fifth season, the main cast of the series will still get paid even though they aren’t going to spend a day shooting anything. That would include Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Harris and Aaron Paul. It’s got to be nice to be paid for work that you never have to do!
It’s explained that the reason for this is because the actors’ options came up sometime last year before Season 4 aired, and they were exercised. The cast also might have renegotiated their deals at that time. It’s not unusual for networks to sometimes pay to secure a cast before a renewal decision is made, especially when it involves big-name actors who are in high demand as it would be hard to reassemble without contracts in place.
The report goes on to say that while the cast had deals for roughly $250,000 an episode in season three, their payout for season five could be even bigger than that, which is just crazy to me! But, if I were in that position, I’d certainly welcome it!
Source: Deadline