After a hiatus of more than two years, Westworld is finally returning for its fourth season. Due to the significant time that has passed since season 3 and the fact that it was airing during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, many fans could use a refresher on many of the key developments that set up the show’s fourth season.
Several important characters met their ends, new alliances were made, and the future of hosts and humans was forever changed by the game-changing events that occurred in the third season. What events in season 3 will likely be the most influential on season 4?
Dolores Sacrificed Herself To Save Humanity
While it seemed like Dolores’ plan was to exterminate humanity, her plan was actually to save them. When she was hooked up to Rehoboam, the artificial intelligence system deleted all her memories and parts of her mind until her consciousness was destroyed entirely.
However, being hooked up to Rehoboam allowed Dolores to take the system’s control away from Engerraund Serac and instead give it to Caleb, which Caleb used to shut down Rehoboam once and for all. Dolores made this sacrifice so Caleb and the rest of humanity could have free will and rebuild their world.
Maeve And Caleb Are Allies Now
Maeve and Caleb spent most of season 3 on opposite sides in the war between Dolores and Serac, as Caleb allied with Dolores and Maeve was blackmailed into working for Serac. This changed in the season 3 finale as Maeve and Caleb teamed up to defeat Serac and shut down Rehoboam.
The last scene with Maeve and Caleb made it clear that they will continue to work together in the new season. Caleb and Maeve have ensured that humanity has free will. Now they need to help rebuild the world and make sure that it does not spiral into irrevocable chaos. Just as Dolores wanted, one of the best hosts and one of the best humans joined forces and will continue working together to create a better future.
Caleb Is Only One Of Many Outliers
One of the ways that Rehoboam controlled humanity was identifying outliers, people considered anomalies whose paths could not be predicted or controlled. Most of these outliers underwent reconditioning. The reconditioning worked on a select few–such as Caleb–and allowed them to reenter society under Rehoboam’s control. Those who were not successfully reconditioned were put away in a cold storage facility, including Serac’s own brother, until Serac had what he needed for the outliers to be “cured.”
Learning that he had been deemed an Outlier–and what was done to him because of this–was a significant part of Caleb’s motivation to rebel and led to his most iconic Westworld scene where he shut down Rehoboam. It is important to remember that Caleb is not the only Outlier, though. There are many others out there, including Serac’s brothers and the others left in cold storage.
William Was Killed By A Host Version Of Himself
By the end of season 3, William made it his mission to kill all hosts. However, his short-lived goal came to a swift end in the finale’s post-credits scene when he entered the Delos building in Dubai and was confronted by a host version of himself. Dressed as William when he was the Man in Black, the host fought William and then slit his throat.
Even though some Westworld fans feel bad about William’s death, Ed Harris will continue to be a significant part of the series in season 4. Instead of playing William, he will be playing the host version of the Man in Black under the control of the host “Chalores,” a host who looks like Charlotte Hale, was a copy of Dolores, and who now has her own identity and agenda.
Chalores Is Building An Army Of Hosts At Delos
The season 3 finale’s post-credits scene showed that Chalores is building an army of hosts at the Delos building in Dubai. Having the appearance of Charlotte Hale allows her to continue to have access to the resources of Delos and to make this army of hosts a reality.
The Man in Black host that was shown killing William is only one of many that Chalores has created and that will be under her control. No one believed William when he tried to tell others what was happening, and with William now dead, it will probably be too late until the world realizes what Chalores has done.
Chalores Killed Hector
Between being the “most wanted” criminal in Westworld’s narrative storylines and revolting against humans in reality, the host Hector died many physical deaths. However, he met a permanent death that he could not be revived from in season 3 when Chalores crushed Hector’s control unit, thus permanently destroying his consciousness.
Hector was Maeve’s lover and one of her closest allies. He only remembered who he was, who Maeve was, and understood that they were in a simulation seconds before he died. With everything going on toward the end of season 3, Maeve did not have time to fully grapple with this tragedy, but it will likely be a score she intends to settle with Chalores in season 4.
Dolores Gave Bernard Access To The Sublime
The Sublime (also known as the Valley Beyond) is an encrypted, virtual world where hosts are able to live separate from humans. The consciousness of Maeve’s daughter, Akecheta, and many other hosts were uploaded to the Sublime at the end of season 2. Much of season 3 was focused on finding the encryption key to the Sublime.
Despite Serac, Maeve, and most other characters believing the key was in the mind of Dolores, the key was actually in the mind of Bernard. Dolores only trusted Bernard with access to the Sublime. Bernard entered the Sublime toward the end of the season 3 finale to answer questions about what comes next. During the post-credits scene, he was shown covered in thick layers of dust as he awoke from his time in the Sublime.
Teddy Is In The Sublime
With James Marsden confirmed to be reprising his role as Teddy in season 4, it is worth revisiting where fans last saw the character. Teddy was last seen peacefully inside the paradise of the Sublime during the season 2 finale. After all the suffering and dark moments he endured at the hands of Dolores during her quest for vengeance against humans, it was only right that she uploaded his consciousness there, removing him from the fight and giving him the idyllic world he deserved.
Teddy did not appear at all in season 3. Before learning that Dolores’ host allies were copies of herself, Maeve suspected one of them might be Teddy, but this was not the case.
Stubbs, Clementine, And Hanaryo Are In The Outside World
Maeve, Bernard, and variations of Dolores aren’t the only hosts who are in the outside world. Ashley Stubbs helped Bernard in his mission to stop Dolores during season 3. Stubbs was last seen bleeding out in a motel bathtub after being shot by William. While the bandages, ice cubes, and cheap alcohol probably weren’t enough to save Stubbs’ life while Bernard was in the Sublime, Stubbs is shown to be alive in the season 4 trailer, confirming that even if he did die, he will be revived.
Clementine and Hanaryo are also in the outside world. Maeve requested that their control units be extracted from Westworld so they could help her in the fight against Dolores. Using information leaked from Chalores, Clementine and Hanaryo killed the Sato/Musashi host copy of Dolores in Singapore. It is unknown what happened to them after that, although Clementine can be seen in the season 4 trailer.
Delos Destinations Is Shut Down And The Hosts Left Behind Were Destroyed
When Bernard returned to Westworld in season 3, fans learned that Westworld and the other Delos Destinations parks were shut down. Only a handful of employees remained as they closed up shop and salvaged what they could for themselves.
When Serac bought Delos later in the season, one of his first acts was to destroy all the hosts at Delos Destinations. This means that other than the hosts in the outside world and the ones Chalores is creating at Delos, all hosts have been destroyed.
