Shocking! HBO cancels 'Westworld' after four seasons

WASHINGTON: HBO’s highly anticipated science fiction-thriller media franchise ‘Westworld’ has been scrapped by the network after four seasons.

As per the reports of Variety, the news comes just under three months after the series aired its Season 4 finale on August 14.

Variety has learned that a number of considerations, including the production’s high cost, falling viewership, and an ongoing examination of programming across the board at HBO’s new parent, Warner Bros. Discovery, factored into the decision to cancel the science fiction thriller.

According to Variety, the David Zaslav-led corporation has been cutting costs as part of a strategy to implement $3.5 billion in cost-saving synergies over the following three years following the merger in April. Despite a disappointing third-quarter earnings report, HBO has several high-profile, big-budget dramas that demonstrate the premium cabler isn’t generally cutting back, including ‘House of the Dragon,’ ‘Euphoria,’ and the upcoming ‘The Last of Us’ adaptation. Zaslav has also emphasised the significance of healthy content spending.

The cast of ‘Westworld,’ which included Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Luke Hemsworth, Aaron Paul, Angela Sarafyan, and James Marsden, was created by husband-and-wife producing team Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy and was overseen by J.J. Abrams. Daniel Wu, Ariana DeBose, and Aurora Perrineau were all newcomers for Season 4.

In October 2016, ‘Westworld’ made its debut. The television series focused on the titular, highly sophisticated amusement park with artificial intelligence (“hosts”). The show expanded its scope outside of Westworld in Season 2 to neighbouring theme parks owned and operated by the same fictional dystopian company. It then ventured into the “real world” in all its futuristic glory in its third season. The fourth season of ‘Westworld,’ which has eight episodes, debuted on June 26.

Since the premiere of ‘True Detective’ in 2014, HBO’s ‘Westworld’ series premiere has drawn the most viewers. After that, the sci-fi drama’s debut season became the most-watched HBO original debut season ever. But each season has seen a decline in its viewership, with Season 4 seeing a particularly sharp decline.

HBO’s ‘Westworld’ was executive produced by Nolan and Joy together with Abrams, Alison Schapker, Denise The, Athena Wickham, Richard J. Lewis, and Ben Stephenson and is based on the 1973 Michael Crichton novel of the same name.

According to Variety, the show received 54 Emmy nominations and won nine of them, including Newton’s award for best-supporting actress in a drama series in 2018.

In partnership with Warner Bros. Television, ‘Westworld’ was produced by Nolan and Joy’s Kilter Films, which is currently covered by a comprehensive agreement at Amazon Studios, and by Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions, which is covered by an overall deal at WarnerMedia.