We’ve come a long way from all that natural splendor. HBO released the official Westworld Season 3 trailer on Thursday, and it looks like showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are making good on the “radical shift” they promised back in August 2018. Our central characters have gone from the confines of the Westworld park to the human world, but it doesn’t seem like this season will offer any aw-shucks humor of old-timey cowboys heading to the big city. (We’ll leave that to Deputy.) Let’s look at seven takeaways from the trailer.
1. Aaron Paul is here, and he looks confused.
We’ve known that Paul would be a member of the Season 3 cast since September 2018, but this is the most we’ve seen of him. His role seems to entail him being as confused and intrigued as the viewers. “Who are you, Dolores?” he says in the trailer. After two seasons of characters who know a lot about the intricacies of a world we don’t understand, Paul seems like the guy who will be asking all of the questions we’re thinking—what would Dolores be ordering at this diner?
Expect to see this face a lot.
We also know Paul is edgy and mysterious, because he sits on the edge of a skyscraper.
Definitely the edgiest place to sit. But the most fascinating thing we learned about Aaron Paul’s character in this trailer is that …
2. Aaron Paul hangs out with Marshawn Lynch.
Yes, Marshawn Lynch is in Season 3 of Westworld. The former NFL running back is most famous for scoring a touchdown that registered on the Richter scale, not getting the ball on the goal line in the Super Bowl, and eating Skittles. Now he’ll be on an HBO television series. Here he is with Paul and Lena Waithe.
Perhaps Lynch’s character will be monitoring seismic activity.
3. Dolores and Maeve are on a collision course.
Seconds after Maeve first appears in the trailer, she enters a large Italian villa–like home. “Dolores,” says a man wearing all white. “I want you to track her down and kill her.”
RIP to subtlety in trailers, and RIP to Dolores, possibly? The trailer ends with a Dolores-and-Maeve staredown on a bridge with Maeve wielding a katana. This looks like the driving conflict of the third season.
4. We’re not totally done with the park.
We see a shot of Bernard walking through the same church graveyard that was heavily featured throughout Season 1, but it looks like the church and surrounding area have been torched.
This one has a lot more reality to it than meets the eye. The Westworld set for the town of Sweetwater was located on the Paramount Ranch, which burned down in the Woolsey fire back in November 2018. Many of the spots from Sweetwater’s main street are gone, but the church—which was perhaps the most symbolically important location in Season 1—survived.
We don’t know what reason Bernard will have for returning there, but whatever that scene is, it will hit close to home for the storytellers.
5. There might be more parks?
Nothing says a family vacation like Nazi world.
6. Tessa Thompson is going to have an Avatar plotline?
Tessa Thompson’s character, Charlotte Hale, seems to have found a new friend. But is it a giant robot buddy cop, or is this robot a shell that she can hop in and take for a spin?
That looks a lot like the exoskeleton fighting machine things used in the movie Avatar (though you’re forgiven if you forgot those existed). Perhaps Charlotte is going to use these for some peaceful purposes, like building shelters for the homeless. Wait, what is that written on the side of the robot?
“RIOT CONTROL.”
It’s gonna be a messy season.
7. William, a.k.a. the Man in Black, is wearing white now.
William, the billionaire philanthropist known for terrorizing hosts, has changed his mind and his wardrobe. When he was a bad guy, he wore black. But now he is wearing white, so he is different. It seems like he wants to use his immense riches and resources for good.
“I finally understand my purpose,” William says in the trailer. “I’m gonna save the fucking world.”
This is the strangest Michael Bloomberg ad yet.
Disclosure: HBO is an initial investor in The Ringer.
