The new trailer for Westworld Season 2 offers our most comprehensive look at the coming season yet. Set to a haunting piano cover of Nirvana's "Heart-Shaped Box," the two-and-a-half-minute teaser reveals some fascinating insight into the new season—but as with anything Westworld-related, it's best to question your reality at all times. Below, we're breaking down the biggest takeaways from the trailerz.
Bernard and Dolores have a heart-to-heart.
The trailer opens with Bernard and Dolores in one of their usual chats. Given the chaos taking hold of Westworld after the board gala massacre in the Season 1 finale, this scene is likely a flashback. Bernard explains a dream he had to Dolores, but warns her, "Dreams don't mean anything." A pause. He continues, "That answer doesn't seem to satisfy you." She responds, "Because it's not completely honest."
Dolores is getting her revenge.
"Did you ever stop to wonder about your actions? The price you'd have to pay if there was a reckoning?" she asks one of the humans, presumably a gala attendee. (Note the heels on the woman behind him.) "That reckoning is here," she promises.
Throughout the trailer, images of the post-finale carnage flash by—a rescue team led by Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) assesses the damage, and later, Teddy (James Marsden) tells Dolores, "We've ridden 10 miles and all we've seen is blood. Is this really what you want?" She responds, "It's us or them."
Dolores seems to have two goals (i.e. the dreams she referenced earlier with Bernard) in mind: 1) Get revenge on the humans who took advantage of the hosts at Westworld, and 2) escape to the real world. As the trailer cuts to an image of her wearing a modern-looking shift, her voiceover says, "I know exactly what's out there."
Note the man she's looking at, the one walking toward her—doesn't he look like William (Jimmi Simpson) from behind? Did William take Dolores to the real world in the past? Is that what she wants to return to? Is this moment, in fact, one of her dreams—spurred by the reverie update from Season 1? This could be the true path of Season 2—or some not-so-subtle baiting-and-switching on the producers' part.
Another flash to Dolores in modern clothing suggests she has several associations with the real world in Season 2:
Maeve hasn't given up on her her daughter.
We already know Maeve (Thandie Newton) will take Lee Sizemore (Simon Quarterman) hostage in Season 2, and the new trailer reveals his part in her plan to find her daughter. When Sizemore tries to tell Maeve that her memories are simulated, she slams him against the wall: "You're going to take me to my daughter," she demands.
The Man in Black might just join the hosts' side.
"Up until the point, the stakes were never real," he says to someone offscreen, presumably a host. "But now, you and the rest of your kind are free." The Man in Black is obviously sympathetic to the hosts' plight (especially given his love for Dolores). Later, he says, "They wanted a place hidden from God—we had something else in mind entirely. I'm gonna burn this whole thing to the ground." If destruction is TMIB's goal, his best bet is joining the hosts' rebellion.
His words also reference a major plot point for the season, which the show's creators teased earlier this year: Westworld is a front for something else entirely. “As we talked about in the pilot, the park is one thing for the guests, and it’s another thing for its shareholders and management—something completely different," Jonathan Nolan told EW.
Shogun World is coming.
After feverish speculation, we finally got our first look at Park #2 in the new season—and somehow, Maeve is involved in it. A quick shot shows her wearing a kimono:
No matter what she has planned, chaos is sure to follow.
Westworld Season 2 premieres Sunday, April 22 at 9 PM EST.
