WESTWORLD Star James Marsden Addresses Show's Disappointing Cancellation
As you know, HBO canceled its sci-fi series Westworld and removed the entire series from HBO Max. This was such a weird move, but we’ve been seeing Warner Bros. making all kinds of crazy decisions since Discovery took over.
Series star James Marsden recently addressed the show's cancelation after Season 4, calling the decision "a disappointment," as a fifth season would have wrapped up the story. Marsden shared with Rolling Stone:
"I'd be lying to you if I told you that the way we ended Westworld wasn't a disappointment. I'm never going to speak without gratitude about any of my experiences, but it would have been nice to be able to complete the story we wanted to finish.
"I love this Westworld family. It was one of those unique opportunities to be part of something where I also would be sitting at home ravenously waiting for the next episode as a fan. I totally understand it's an expensive show and big shows have to have big audiences to merit the expense, I just wish it was about more than financial success. But who knows, maybe there's some world where it can get completed somehow. Maybe that's just wishful thinking, because I know we had plans to finish it the way we wanted to."
Who knows, maybe years from now they will get to wrap the story up in movie form. It wouldn’t be the first time that happened.
Co-creator of the series Jonathan Nolan hoped HBO would give the series a fifth season to wrap up the show’s ambitious story, previously saying: “We always planned for a fifth and final season. We are still in conversations with the network. We very much hope to make them.” Co-creator Lisa Joy went on to say the story has always been working towards a specific ending: “Jonah and I have always had an ending in mind that we hope to reach. We have not quite reached it yet.” When talking about about what the fifth season would have explored, Joy Said:
"From the very beginning, in season one, we talked about characters being on loops, and how do you break these loops? The cycles of violence, the cycles of destruction, the cycles of rebuilding. So you're hoping that with each epicycle, progress is made – that you're moving toward somewhere good," she said. "Hale has control this season. What role does she make? Ford had control – humans had control – in the first season. What does that look like? Now we're moving toward, gods willing, a season in which Dolores has control and the cycle will repeat one last time. How will that be different? What new things can be learned? And, is it possible to even break out of that cycle?"
It’s a shame that the Westworld team didn’t get a chance to wrap up its story, but what can you do!? These things happen.