'Westworld' May Not Actually Run Six Seasons

HBO recently gave Westworld season 4 a green light, and when word of that renewal broke, it came with a rumor. That rumor stated that behind-the-scenes, showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy were planning for six seasons total. But now we've learned that's not true. Nolan and Joy say they've never actually discussed how many seasons they want to do, because circumstances can always change.

How many Westworld seasons will there be? Well, at least four – since season 4 was recently confirmed by HBO. Beyond that, though? No one knows. Not even showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Speaking with Variety, Nolan said: "Well, I just want to clarify, you know, Lisa and I have never actually talked about a number of seasons." Nolan said. "[T]here's been reporting about deals and other stuff like that. But we've never actually talked out loud about how many seasons we imagine this thing going, because I think you'd be foolish to. Things change, circumstances change. I think when we sat down to do the show, we didn't quite realize how difficult it would be to make this show — [laughing] how many years it would take per season. So we've never actually talked about how many seasons that plan was, and indeed I think when we had the plan it didn't actually map out to a specific number of seasons, exactly. It was a beginning, a middle and an end."

Nolan added:

"When you have a show going like this, you want to stay as long as you're telling a compelling story. We're heading towards that end, but we haven't completely mapped it out. At this point, part of the work is looking at the rest of the story we have to tell. It's two impulses, one against the other. You don't want to walk away from people who are as talented and cool as this. They're all lovely, lovely people, and they love working together, we like working together. At the same time, you don't want to outstay your welcome. You have a story to tell, and you want to go out without feeling like you've outstayed your welcome. So we're trying to balance those things a bit."

After the recently concluded season 3, I've decided to call it quits with Westworld. It's just not my cup of tea anymore. And even if it were, I honestly can't see the story going on much longer. Maybe season 4 should be the end? Just a suggestion.