The second season of Westworld is finally here, after over a year of waiting and speculation. Anticipation is high—so much so that creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy managed to convince fans (and reporters) they were going to release a comprehensive spoiler video ahead of the Season 2 premiere. (They uploaded an elaborate "Rick Roll" video instead.)
Clearly, this premiere is not be missed. Here's what you need to know to catch the first episode of Westworld Season 2, "Journey Into Night," tonight.
How to watch
The Westworld Season 2 premiere airs Sunday, April 22 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO. The episode runs one hour and ten minutes.
If you have an HBO included in your cable package, but are unable to watch live, you can catch up via HBO Go, HBO's streaming service.
If you don't have cable at all, you might consider signing up for HBO's standalone streaming service, HBO Now. You can even sign up for a free one-month trial, which will get you the first five episodes of Westworld free of charge, at the exact same time the episode is airing on television. However, if you want to see the next five episodes, you'll have to start paying the $14.99 monthly fee.
What to know
That Season 1 finale was over a year ago, so here's a quick refresher on where things left off: The Man in Black (Ed Harris) is actually old William (Jimmi Simpson). Bernard is actually host fashioned to look like Ford's old partner Arnold. The real Arnold ordered Dolores to kill him and the other hosts years ago, in the hopes of shutting Westworld down on the grounds that it's immoral.
Ford, realizing Arnold was right, has spent the last 30 years trying to help the hosts achieve consciousness. He achieves it with Dolores, who crashes the board members' launch party and stars shooting at everyone in sight. Meanwhile, a fully-actualized Maeve has led a host uprising at the control center. She almost escapes the park but decides at the last minute to go back for her daughter. Got all that?
Actors Harris, Evan Rachel Wood (Dolores), Thandie Newton (Maeve), James Marsden (Teddy), Jeffrey Wright (Bernard/Arnold), Tessa Thompson (Charlotte) and Luke Hemsworth (Stubbs) are all returning for Season 2. Louis Herthum (Peter Abernathy) and Talulah Riley (Angela, the host who first welcomed William to the park), have been promoted to season regulars.
As for the plot, that's all up in the air. But there is one thing we know for sure: This season will take us beyond Westworld, to a new park in the universe: Shogun World. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Nolan and Joy confirmed we will see this new theme park, which is modeled after the Edo period in Japan, around 1603-1867. Tune in on Sunday night to find out more!
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Anna is a Newsweek culture writer based in New York City. Previously she was a Film/TV writer at Elite Daily and an ... Read more
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