Westworld Spoiler-Hungry Fans Get Played by the HBO Series Creators
In a world where the internet is a constant source of rumors, gossip and crazy theories, the creators of HBO’s Westworld, power couple Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, decided to prevent overly curious fans from ruining season 2 for everyone else via a pretty blunt strategy: giving it all away, first.
It’s during a Reddit AMA, nearly 2 weeks after the trailer of the much-anticipated second season of the groundbreaking sci-fi western series was shared online, that the showrunners announced in a surprising post that, in order to protect the new season’s secrets, the best plan was to reveal them all. “It creates a larger problem for us, though, in terms of the way your guesswork is reported online,” reads the Reddit post. “‘Theories’ can actually be spoilers, and the line between the two is confusing. It’s something we’ve been thinking about since last season. The fans of Game of Thrones, for instance, rallied around and protected the secrets of the narrative in part because they already knew those secrets (through season 5).”
With Game of Thrones as a point of reference, the duo claimed that if the truth is out there (readers of George R.R. Martin’s books always knew what was coming in the series adaptation but allegedly kept it to themselves) it would be better protected. Hence, Nolan and Joy declared that if their post reached 1000 upvotes, proving enough support for the idea, they would publish a video that would lay out the “plot (and twists and turns) of season 2”. To confirm the validity of the online claim, HBO issued a statement suggesting users to “stay tuned to Reddit for their next move.”
Needless to say, the post received more than enough votes and attention. The promised video was therefore delivered… Just not quite as expected. (Watch it, below.)
What begins with the new season’s first episode introduction by Jeffrey Wright rapidly turns into a surprising, yet charming, performance of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up by Evan Rachel Wood and Angela Sarafyan. The show’s creators officially ‘RickRolled’ the entire internet community. And if the musical sequence doesn’t strike your fancy, maybe the 20-minutes footage of a confused dog facing a piano while the Westworld theme song plays over and over again in the background will.
With this bold move, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy proved they have no time to waste with theorists – unless it’s to poke fun at them.
Viewers will still have to wait until the series comes back on April 22 to figure out what really happens next! Meanwhile, here’s the actual trailer for the season 2 of Westworld (just try not to overthink it):
