Why did Westworld Season 5 Get Canceled by HBO?

Will ‘Westworld’ Ever Reinstate Lost Humanity?

Amid consciousness, where darkness prevails in the Westworld, will superficiality ever return to the lost Humanity? Westworld, an American science fiction play, must have led the viewers to this quest since its first debut on HBO. Time and again, HBO’s most acclaimed show Westworld has regained this question on top, and now it has been answered.

HBO has responded abruptly with rejection, to Westworld Season 5, as per The Hollywood Reporter. As the site notes HBO’s official statement:

“Over the past four seasons, Lisa and [Jonathan] have taken viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step. We are tremendously grateful to them, their immensely talented cast, producers, crew, and all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. Television. It’s been a thrill to join them on this journey.”

From 2016 to 2022, the series unfolded a story of a dystopian world. A world where the human race and the others, “the anthropomorphic robots’ encounter their incompetence while living in the new age’s Rehoboam (a controlling system of artificial intelligence).

Westworld and the Initial Success

Initially, the Westworld series gained prominence among HBO’s other originals. Westworld’s Season 1 significantly achieved an excellent viewership rating and considerable appreciation. Season one was highly recognized for its performances, themes, visuals, narrative and musical score. For instance, the series received 87% of approval ratings (based on 384 reviews) on Rotten Tomatoes.

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In addition, Season 1 ranked with a high score of 74 out of 100 on the Metacritic site. Moreover, the series won nine Primetime Emmy Awards, alongside the supporting actress Thandiwe Newton winning Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2018.

Westworld and the Initial Success
Westworld and the Initial Success

So, what brought the cancellation to the Westworld set if the series was this well-known? To know the facts, let’s explore together Westworld’s timeline.

Westworld Season 5 and the Prevailing Causes Behind the Cancellation

Westworld Season 5 and the Prevailing Causes Behind the Cancellation 
Westworld Season 5 and the Prevailing Causes Behind the Cancellation

Westworld and an Overgrowing Unclarity for the Viewers

Since 2018, it has been observed that the series Westworld is significantly moving, almost, towards an obstructive state. For instance, Westworld’s second season (2018) started to get more complicated due to the lack of clarity within its narrative, characterization, and scripts. Since then, the series began to get fluctuating viewership ratings. For example, both Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes (the review aggregation websites) observed season 2, season 3 (2020), and season 4 (2022) with a continuous fluctuation in their ratings for Westworld.

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Unlike the series’ latter seasons, Season 1 was substantially acclaimed, on Rotten Tomatoes, with a consensus,

 “With an impressive quality that honors its source material, the brilliantly addictive Westworld balances intelligent, enthralling drama against outright insanity.”

Indeed, the critic’s consensus on the same site, “Rotten Tomatoes” for season 4, would be sufficient to understand, at a minimum, at least the leading cause behind Westworld’s decline. The site consensus reads,

 “Westworld’s continued reliance on mystery will frustrate just as much as it intrigues, but this fourth season still offers plenty of gleaming and menacing insight into a brave new world.”

The science fiction drama Westworld, being tangled within its mysterious narrative, providing a lack of clarity, has become a self-indulgent obstruction to its survival. And, perhaps, due to this losing potential of telling the story without excellent opacity, Westworld Season 5 got a cancellation. To illustrate it further, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav “pledged” the show ‘Westworld’ for ‘cost-cutting,’ aggressively, as per The Hollywood Reporter. Interestingly, the site also confirms that an insider denies that the rejection for Westworld Season 5 is not due to an economic loss.

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The Main Cast will Still Get Paid: Westworld Season 5

The Main Cast will Still Get Paid: Westworld Season 5
The Main Cast will Still Get Paid: Westworld Season 5

However, the main cast of Westworld Season 5, including Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Harris, and Aaron Paul, will be paid, as per Deadline news. And the total amount of pay “is believed to total in the $10M-$15M”.

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Javaria Yousuf Ali
Javaria Yousuf Ali
A Poet, Teacher, Short Story and News Article Writer, also a Literary Critic now, living in Pakistan. I have recently completed a Masters of Arts degree in English. Alongside English as a major discipline, I also had a privilege to study other disciplinary courses, including Mass Communication and International Relations, during B.A (hons) in English. Interestingly, I have been a creative person since my childhood, progressively, now I am a poet (in both Urdu and English languages), and creative and news article writer. All these and most importantly, I am now a literary critic as I recently have done with a research paper entitled as “Nature of Sorrow in Iqbal and Rumi: An Approach Towards Existential Crisis”.
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