Why did 'Westworld' turn down HBO's offer for Season 5?
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: All HBO fans are legitimately stunned earlier this year when HBO announced that their once gold star series 'Westworld' had been canceled. The sudden news shouldn't have come as a surprise after so many huge projects got cut off at Warner Bros Discovery. The last few weeks have seen ample movies shelved and renewals hauled back, but it did arrive after weeks of talk from the creators that they had plans for Season 5 to wrap up the show.
Regardless, the dystopian science fiction western television series was created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy for HBO. It is based on the 1973 film of the same name written and directed by Michael Crichton, and, to a lesser extent, its 1976 sequel, 'Futureworld.' The HBO series premiered six years back, on October 2, 2016. Furthermore, Season 4 credits included Nolan and Joy as creators, EPs Abrams, Alison Schapker, Athena Wickham, Richard J. Lewis, Denise The, and Ben Stephenson with Kilter Films and Bad Robot producing in association with Warner Bros Television.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO considered producing 'Westworld' season five not for its premium cable channel (or its streaming service) but instead a FAST streaming service (FAST meaning Free, Ad-Supported Television, think TUBI, Pluto TV, or Freevee). The only way to make 'Westworld' for such a service however would result in the series taking a huge budget cut for its final episodes, with season four having cost over 150 million dollars by the end of it all. 'Westworld' is however coming off HBO Max and will arrive on one of these FAST streaming services in the not-too-distant future.
"Making Westworld has been one of the highlights of our careers," co-creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy said in a statement when the series ended. "We are deeply grateful to our extraordinary cast and crew for creating these indelible characters and brilliant worlds. We've been privileged to tell these stories about the future of consciousness - both human and beyond - in the brief window of time before our AI overlords forbid us from doing so."
As per Deadline, the actors will apparently still get paid for Season 5 regardless of the fact that it will not be produced.
However, you can watch the series on HBO Max.