Since kicking off way back in 2016, Westworld has remained one of the biggest and best experiences in the science fiction genre, with huge budgets bringing to life some incredible storylines, paired with an absolutely outstanding cast.
It has been over two years since the end of the third season, but we're happy to say that the fourth season is about to kick off, and can be streamed weekly with a NOW Entertainment Membership.
The first three seasons are also still all available to (re)watch, but just in case you don't have time to barrel through all 28 of those episodes, we've put together a little recap of the biggest highlights of the show so far...
SEASON ONE
1. In the not-too-distant future, Westworld is one of a number of highly advanced theme parks owned and operated by tech company Delos. They are filled with robots that can be killed, befriended, seduced, etc. While the financiers are happy to keep things as they are, the robots' creator Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) has given them the potential to learn and grow and live their own, sentient lives.
2. One of the original robots, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), follows fractured memories that push her to seek the centre of a maze within Westworld, but the maze was actually the path she needed to take in order to push herself over the edge of sentience.
3. Maeve (Thandiwe Newton) is another original robot on the verge of self-actualisation, who takes her own life in order to "see heaven", but ends up within the Westworld robot floor, allowing her to inspire an entire robot rebellion.
4. Dolores believes she is in love with one of the guests, who turns out to be the park's depraved owner, William aka The Man In Black (Ed Harris), which causes Dolores to instigate her own uprising, killing many of the visitors - and her creator Robert Ford - in the process.
SEASON TWO
1. Very unhappy with the robot uprising and murdered guests, Delos sends in a crack mercenary team, headed by one of their own high-ranking members Charlotte (Tessa Thompson), as both Dolores and Maeve attempt to lead their parallel groups of rebelling robots out of the theme park and into the real world.
2. Robert Ford's partner-in-crime Arnold (Jeffrey Wright) - who has discovered he has been turned into a robot, now named Bernard, who has been living another life, unaware he wasn't a human, while also the head of robot behaviours at the parks - is having trouble separating the past, present and future. Which poses a problem for the mercs who are hunting rogue robots.
3. It is revealed that Westworld has been one giant experiment on the guests, using their experiences in there as the world's most aggressive data-mining operation, allowing them to make LOADS of money by pre-empting humanity's every desire or fear.
4. Given the option of uploading themselves to "robot heaven", Dolores denies it, wanting instead to take over the real world. A number of robots (and people) are killed and have their "consciousnesses" re-uploaded to other robot bodies, but in the end, Dolores has made it out into the real world, disguised in the robot body of a copy of Charlotte, and she's brought Bernard with her.
SEASON THREE1. Dolores is now out in the real world, and she's making moves to get close to Rehoboam, the most advanced A.I. in the world, with the help of Caleb (Aaron Paul), a former soldier and current criminal.
2. Charlotte (who, remember, is actually another copy of Dolores) is climbing the ranks at Delos, while discovering her human counterpoint was a mole for a competing company. She also has William committed to a mental institution.
3. Maeve is awoken in the real world by Serac (Vincent Cassel), creator of Rehoboam, in the hopes that she will help defeat Dolores. Following an altercation, Maeve is convinced instead to join Dolores' side in their impending war against humanity.
4. Discovering that Rehoboam is actually capable of predicting the future of each member of humanity, the robots dump the information into the public before Caleb destroys the main server.
5. Having escaped the institution with Arnold's help, William goes head-to-head with Charlotte (who is still Dolores, but is no longer following Primary Dolores' orders), only to be killed by a robot version of himself.
Okay, all caught up? Good!
Westworld S4 will be available to stream weekly from Monday, 27 June with a NOW Entertainment Membership.
Clips via HBO
