Westworld co-creator Jonathan Nolan has commented on the cancellation of the sci-fi series and how he’s hopeful that the ending the team planned for can see the light of day.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan said he “100%” has hope that Westworld’s ending will be released in some capacity one day. “We’re completionists. We’d like to finish the story we started,” he said.
As an example of his determination, Nolan said it took eight years and a change of director to get Interstellar made. Steven Spielberg was originally going to direct Interstellar from Nolan’s script, but plans changed, and his brother Christopher Nolan later came on to direct.
Also in the interview, Nolan was asked how much he was bothered by the decision by Warner Bros. Discovery to cancel Westworld and dump it from Max. He said he understands the decision from a business perspective for WBD to sell Westworld to free, ad-supported services, because the audiences on those platforms is “vastly” larger than a subscription service like Max. He said understands this well having working on the TV series Person of Interest at CBS.
HBO boss Casey Bloys informed Nolan and Lisa Joy of the decision to cancel Westworld and sell its rights to outside streaming channels before the announcement was made publicly. Bloys said the vast majority of people in the US and worldwide do not want to sign up for a streaming service and pay a subscription fee, which is part of the reason why the company sold Westworld to Roku and Tubi for their own free, ad-supported services.
WBD removing Westworld from Max didn’t bother Nolan, he said. If Nolan doesn’t get to make more Westworld and complete the story, he will still be proud of the show–but he wants to make more. Whether that’s a one-off TV season, a movie, a graphic novel, or some other form of media remains to be seen, if it does indeed happen.
“In terms of finishing the story, you understand that you get the time that you get, sometimes it’s as much as you want, sometimes it’s not. I’m so fucking proud of what we made. It was an extraordinary experience. I think it would be a mistake to look back and only feel regret of (how it ended). But there’s still very much a desire to finish it,” he said.
Despite WBD cancelling the planned fifth season of Westworld, the cast was paid.
Nolan’s latest project is the Fallout TV series for Prime Video, which premieres on April 11. For more, check out GameSpot’s rundown of everything you need to know about the Fallout show.