Westworld

Westworld is an HBO television series based on the 1973 film of the same name. The first season debuted in October 2016, and the second season began airing in April 2018.
==/r/westworld==
The Westworld subreddit is host to an active fan theory community, which has been the subject of much media attention. In his essay "Monetizing the Maze: How the Internet Covers Westworld," scholar Myles McNutt writes, "Rather than generating content to create spaces for community, the outlets generating hundreds of articles about Westworld each week are attempting to tap into the existing communities on Reddit or Twitter or Tumblr."Monetizing the Maze: How the Internet Covers Westworld by Myles McNutt for Flow Journal. Posted on November 22, 2016. Retrieved on June 9, 2018. The relationship between the television show, its fans, and the media is at times contentious, as some critics have argued that the drive to "figure out" the show has ruined it.Online theorizing ruined too many TV shows in 2016 by Todd VanDerWerff for Vox. Posted on December 2, 2016. Retrieved on June 3, 2018.
In a 2016 interview with Vulture, Jonathan Nolan - one of the co-creators of Westworld, and a self-described Reddit user - addressed the show's fan theory community on Reddit:
"It’s a community—we love that. And it’s incredibly gratifying that there is a portion of the community that’s looking at that.
Where it got a little complicated on this one: two things. One, you’ve had a lot of “theory” shows. We didn’t really want to make a theory show. That’s kind of inevitable with this level of complexity. To Lisa’s [the show's other co-creator] point, we just thought we had a fantastic opportunity here to tell a story from the perspective of someone with a unique relationship with time and narrative. But that said, there are reveals in the narrative. And our hope is you would start asking that question in episode seven, and then it would grow as a feeling. But we also knew—and this is another thing for me that is vitally important—you can’t just pull the rug out from the audience...You have to play fair with the audience.
There are a lot of theory shows where the theories don’t really add up to much. Or as with the first season of True Detective, there were a lot of theories that were set in a metaphysical realm that didn’t necessarily connect immediately to the narrative you were watching. But it was perfectly fine to speculate about that and carry that speculation out on Reddit.
Here, all the theories were connected to things we were doing. So they sort of wound up in headline items. And that was a bummer because you want people—you know, the Reddit community is fantastic but it represents literally one percent of our audience—150,000 people; we’re being watched by 12 million. And all of those people in that community are self-selecting. They’re there because that’s how they want to engage with the show. And they’re very careful about laying out spoilers for people. It was where people were picking it up and running the word “timelines” in headlines where you thought oh, that’s a shame, because that probably is going to impact someone’s experience of watching the show."Westworld’s Creators on How They Feel About Fan Theories, and What They’ll Do Differently in Season Two by Gazelle Emami and Abraham Riesman for Vulture. Posted on December 6, 2016. Retrieved on June 3, 2018.
On April 9, 2018, as part of a Reddit AMA in advance of the show's upcoming second season, Nolan posted the following to the Westworld subreddit on behalf of himself and fellow co-creator Lisa Joy:
Responses to Nolan and Joy's proposal varied, but most commenters seemed to side against posting the video. Many of the comments noted that having confirmation of the events of season 2 would negatively impact their personal viewing experience, as well as the community that had grown out of the fan theorizing.
Some commenters also pointed out that this could be a marketing ploy or a bait-and-switch:
Writing for Forbes, Paul Tassi commented:
"This reads like and idea from someone who doesn’t understand fans. Or fan theories. Or anything about why it’s fun to speculate on what’s going to happen next in a mystery-based show. You’ve enjoyed watching fans puzzle out your twists and turns so you’re just going to…tell them what’s a correct theory and what isn’t up front? And you’re going to offer to just negate the entire concept of fan speculation and puzzle solving by offering the answer key before you’ve even passed the test out? Why? Who does this benefit?"'Westworld' Is Considering Spoiling All Of Season 2 On Purpose Because Of Fan Theories (Update) by Paul Tassi for Forbes. Posted on April 9, 2018. Retrieved on June 3, 2018.
Later that day, Nolan posted a Youtube link to a video purportedly containing almost twenty-five minutes of footage from season 2 of the show, along with the following comment:
Responses to Nolan's decision to share the video ran the gamut. Some commenters seemed gleeful, and others despaired.
The video opens with the words "On Season 2 of Westworld," and from its first ninety seconds, would seem to be a narration of the initial plot of the new season. At minute 1:36, piano music begins, played by Westworld actor Angela Sarafyan and accompanied by co-star Evan Rachel Wood, who subsequently begins to sing the opening lines of "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley, revealing the entire video to be an elaborate rickroll. At minute 2:56, the following text appears: "Dear Reddit, From all of us here at Westworld, thank you for watching. We hope you enjoy season two..." The rest of the video is footage of a dog sitting at a piano; the final text of the video reads "For Bento 2009 - 2018." This, in turn, was interpreted as a tribute to Bento the Keyboard Cat, who had died the previous month.R.I.P. Bento, the Keyboard Cat by Alex Young for COnsequence of Sound. Posted on March 18, 2018. Retrieved on June 3, 2018.
Given the trollish nature of the video, some of the initial responses on the AMA thread may be viewed as sarcastic or intentionally hyperbolic, although it seems plausible that some commenters may have reacted to the video without actually watching it.
At a FYC event for the show later that month, Nolan commented on the prank:
"'We love Reddit and we wanted to celebrate Reddit in exactly the way they like to be celebrated: a sadomasochistic relationship where we over-promise and under-deliver,' Nolan said. 'Though I think we actually over-delivered because Evan [Rachel Wood] singing and Angela [Sarafyan] playing piano, you can’t beat it.'"‘Westworld’ Creators Respond to Reddit Rickroll Prank, as Ed Harris Actually Reveals Something About Season 2 by Ben Travers for IndieWire. Posted on April 18, 2018. Retrieved on June 3, 2018.
==Fan Podcasts==
==Example Fanworks==
==Archives & Links==
As of June 2018, there were 156 Westworld fanworks on Archive of Our Own. The majority of fanworks were tagged as het, and Dolores Abernathy/William was the most popular pairing. There is also a tag on AO3 for Westworld fusions; as of June 2018, seventeen works had been added to that tag.
* Westworld (TV) works on Ao3
* Alternative Universe - Westworld Fusion works on Ao3
==References==
Category:Fandoms by Source Text
Category:Live-action Television