Enlarge / Now we’ll never know how Dolores Abernathy’s story ends.
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HBO surprised its subscribers and the TV industry on Friday by announcing that it was canceling the big-budget sci-fi series Westworld just months after the conclusion of its fourth season, Variety reports.
The series, which received 54 Emmy nominations during its run, was due to end on its fifth season, according to recent statements from its two showrunners, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. The creative couple had a specific ending in mind that won’t make it to the big screen right now, though many viewers felt the fourth season’s ending worked as a conclusion as well.
Several reasons contributed to HBO’s decision, including high production costs, declining viewership, and dwindling critical response amid general efforts to cut costs at newly formed parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. Westworld set records when it premiered, but its viewership figures fell with each season, with the recently aired fourth season seeing a particularly sharp decline.
HBO is known for tentpole dramas and its current programming is both ambitious and promising. It includes Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, video game adaptation The Last of Us, critical favorites The White Lotus and Succession, and zeitgeist hit Euphoria. With such an expensive series lineup, it also seems like the struggling Westworld has gotten a little lost in the noise.
Calling Westworld “one of the highlights” of their careers, Nolan and Joy said in a statement that they “have been privileged to bring these stories about the future of consciousness — both human and beyond — in the brief window of time before our AI overlords.” it forbids us to tell.”
However, this is not the end of the road for the duo; Their production company has a deal with Amazon and they are working on a new TV series based on the legendary video game franchise Fallout.