Fans of HBO’s Westworld were shocked late last week when the award-winning dystopian sci-fi drama was canceled ahead of its fifth season. Despite its twisted plots and rousing comments about humanity vs. artificial intelligence, Westworld has apparently been the victim of an aggressive cost-cutting mandate enacted by the network. The show’s big budget, combined with declining ratings over the last two seasons, proved to be its downfall, but it turns out the A+ cast members still get paid.
Deadline reports that Westworld’s cast members had “pay-or-play deals” for Season 5 to ensure the cast — which includes Aaron Paul, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Ed Harris, James Marsden, Tessa Thompson and Belonging to Jeffrey Wright – still being paid despite cancellation. The site reports that contracts may have been renegotiated prior to Season 4 and that networks giving such guarantees to their actors is not uncommon, especially for ensemble casts that may otherwise be difficult to put back together.
HBO is expected to pay out between $10 million and $15 million to the cast, which is still far more financially feasible than paying for another season, as THR reports that season 4 will be “at least $160 million ‘ to make what turned out to be his last eight episodes.
Though ratings for Westworld’s third season fell in 2020 and continued to fall two years later when it returned from pandemic-related delays, co-creator Jonathan Nolan said he always planned for a fifth and final season. It’s terribly frustrating for fans, myself included, to know that there was a plan that would bring the often-confusing storylines to a conclusion, and now we’ll likely never see how that plays out.
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Over its four seasons, the series garnered 54 Primetime Emmy nominations and took home nine trophies. There’s no question that the HBO drama has made a name for itself in the television world, and another good measure of that is the fact that it was brilliantly parodied in The Simpsons’ annual Halloween episode Treehouse of Horror this year.
As the actors continue to receive a check from HBO, we can keep up with them through their other projects. Evan Rachel Wood is currently starring in a spot-on portrayal of Madonna in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story on The Roku Channel. And following Teddy’s surprise return for Westworld Season 4, catch a glimpse of the best James Marsden movies and TV shows.
There may not be more The Divine stories on the way, but fans with an HBO Max subscription can still stream the first four seasons of Westworld. You can also catch some of the best original series from HBO Max and see what’s coming to cable and streaming for the rest of the year with our 2022 TV Guide.