The trailer for Westworld Season Two dropped during this year’s Super Bowl, and it is everything you want it to be– striking, cinematic, and filled with lots of unanswered questions. First, let’s get one thing out of the way. We predicted HBO would give us a premiere date for the show tonight, and we were right. Westworld will be returning to our screens April 22nd, but this time, it’s on the robotic hosts’ terms, and it’s their world. Check out the trailer below, and then join us as we discuss what our first impressions are.
https://youtu.be/qUmfriZoMw0
The trailer begins enigmatically, with sweeping, utopian shots of landscapes and people, accompanied by a cover of Kanye West’s “Runaway.” It’s gorgeous, generic and evocative of propaganda, so if you thought it was too good to be true, you would be right. Half-way through, the trailer shows us a darker perspective of the “beautiful world,” the trailer’s narrator tells us is a lie.
Inside the laboratories of Delos, a half-finished robotic bull goes rogue, an apt metaphor for when mankind has created something powerful it can no longer control. A man is restrained and looks to be tortured. A faceless android sneaks up on Bernard. We also see some old friends: Logan looks like he has made it out of the park and is at a dour party of some sort; the Man in Black stands dejected in the rain.
“We’ve lived by your rules long enough,” the narrator intones. The robotic bull continues to break glass and savage its human oppressors, even as Maeve looks on undisturbed. It seems like the Hosts might have the upper hand this season. Another unfinished Host slams someone into a wall.
Last but not least, we see Dolores, the heroine of the past season, bathed in sunlight. She dreamily reveals herself as the narrator. Together, she wants to build a new world, “our world.” It’s a nice thought for the Hosts, but the humans of Delos and the larger world might have something to say about the coming robot uprising.
This isn’t the most forthcoming trailer, but it certainly is easy on the eyes and promises a great deal. The good news is we won’t have to wait very long to return to Westworld, or whatever is left of the park after the end of last season. HBO seems to be eager to fill the hole in everyone’s hearts that has been left by another spring without Game of Thrones with mechanical mayhem and more of Ramin Djawadi’s dulcet melodies, and it just might work. HBO took a risk with the expense of airing an ad for their new series at the Super Bowl, but it’s sure to draw a lot of attention to Westworld, and hopefully increase their audience size. I for one, can’t wait until April.
What was your favorite part of the Westworld trailer? Comment below!
2 comments
I have to agree with the common theory popping up that the “bull in the china shop” imagery is purely metaphorical. I don’t think a “running of the bulls” will appear in the season but was created just for this moment.
Clearly, Maeve seems to be the commanding officer of the Host uprising or, at least, on the Delos front. The other leader, or General of the armies on the field, is Delores. What feminist power! Bernard and the original Mr. Abernathy seem to be in danger. Do they oppose the uprising or, at least, the way it is being executed?
And what of the human front? Do they stand a chance?
April 22 is going to be exciting.
I agree. I think this trailer was very focused on thematics and aesthetics, and less so on the nitty gritty details of what will happen in the upcoming season. It’s a little nontraditional, and I like it. I’ve seen people question whether either Delores or Maeve will turn evil, or end up clashing somehow. It seems to me that rebellions often are plagued by dissension between factions, and watching the hosts try to balance their different attitudes of how to move forward will be interesting.