Westworld Season 4 Begins Shooting Soon According to Star

Yesterday brought the news that actress Thandiwe Newton was returning to the original spelling of her name, adding the “w” back in; and one Westworld fan paid tribute to her decision with an adorable edit by putting the “Westworld” logo into her name over an image of her character Maeve. Newton re-posted the image on her on Instagram, writing about how it made her feel but also confirming that production on the new season of the show is about to begin. “Aaaaah this made me smile today,” Newton wrote. “Maeve – how can I ever thank her? By playing the sh-t out of her that’s how. Season 4 starts shooting soon.”

Newton previously teased what was to come in the fourth season of the series, with season three notable having some key characters dying and a major conflict being set-up, notably one between Maeve and Tessa Thompson’s Charlotte (aka Dolores). “Oh, there’s definitely something going on there. Definitely,” Newton previously told Deadline. “I mean I say definitely but I’m just a fan, like try to imagine. But yeah, I mean, Hale, is fascinating to me now, as an extension of Dolores. I mean, it’s really interesting, isn’t it? It’s like the apple falling far from the tree and all that. It is really interesting that Dolores has spawned these children basically because they very quickly separate themselves from her.”

Series co-creator and showrunner Jonathan Nolan also offered a tease of the next batch of episodes, saying that Ed Harris’ The Man in Black will “kill everyone” next season.

“I’m a big believer in being guided by irony,” Nolan said. “[William] winds up becoming this thing [a host] that he’s controlled for so long. And on a visceral level, I just can’t wait to watch Ed kill everyone.”

Harris was also involved in the discussion at The Paley Center for Media, adding: “I have no idea what they have planned for me. I’m teamed with Tessa [Thompson], I know. Hopefully, we can do some rightful damage.”

No premiere window for season four has yet been announced, nor has an official episode count. For comparison, Westworld seasons one and two had ten episodes, but season three topped out at eight. There were also extended windows between each season of the series with season one airing from October to December of 2016, season two from April to June of 2018, and season three form March to May of 2020. With that kind of pattern, it wouldn’t be surprising if Westworld season four didn’t arrive until 2022 at the very earliest.

There’s also the fact that Nolan and his partner Lisa Joy are also developing an adaptation of the Fallout video game series for Amazon Prime that could slow things down.

The first three seasons of Westworld are now available on HBO Max.