The show's season two finale was the most violent version of 'wiping the slate clean' we've ever seen -- but what does it mean for season three?
WARNING: Spoilers ahead! Do not proceed if you haven't watched the season two finale of Westworld.
Everybody's dead, but somehow, we think (almost) everybody will be alive again.
Sunday's season two finale of Westworld set the stage for a very major reset, as it closed the door we've been after all season and opened a new one -- to the real world.
Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) made her escape, Ford (Anthony Hopkins) made some bold claims about humans' lack of free will, and almost every single host was annihilated in the most violent act of "wiping the slate clean" we've ever seen.
But what does it all mean? Here's the nine questions we hope are answered in season three.
1. Are Charlotte and Dolores now both Dolores?
Dolores knew the only way she would be able to reach the real world was in someone else's body, but when she recreated Bernard (Jeffrey Wright), she was back in her own, while Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) watched. Charlotte is presumably still Dolores, and Dolores is Dolores, so do we have two Doloreses on our hands?
2. Was Stubbs a host programmed to help Dolores escape?
All that talk about Ford and his core drive, Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth) has got to be a host. Why would he knowingly let Dolores (as Charlotte) out of the park if he wasn't? And this wouldn't be the first time Ford appeared to program an escape -- that was the big question surrounding Maeve's (Thandie Newton) attempted exit from the park in season one.
3. How will Bernard stop Dolores from destroying mankind?
After reviving Bernard, Dolores explained that it was going to take both of them to make sure their kind survived -- but "not as allies." How does she plan to destroy humans in the real world? And how exactly is Bernard supposed to stop her?
4. Were all the parks destroyed?
We saw Westworld being evacuated, but hints of The Raj and Shogun World in season two weren't enough to confirm what exactly happened to those parks. Yes, they were going off script, but was it enough to destroy the entire park? And what about the parks we haven't yet seen?
5. Where is the “Virtual Eden” now?
Dolores redirected the make-believe land the lucky hosts were able to walk into somewhere else in the sky -- a place she said "no one will ever find them." What does that mean? And while they traveled into this new world, their bodies were left in Westworld -- could they be salvaged back in the real world?
6. Who will Dolores rebuild?
Dolores was able to make it out with five control units/consciousness balls. She revived herself and Bernard, and assuming it's one ball per person, who are the other three? Our guess is she's not done with Peter Abernathy (Louis Herthum). That shot of Teddy (James Marsden) in the new world really seemed like a goodbye for good -- so who's left on her list?
7. Can Felix and Sylvester “salvage” Maeve?
The dynamic duo was left stunned on the beach and tasked with bagging the hosts they can salvage. Is this how Maeve returns for season three? How many other hosts will Felix (Leonardo Nam) and Sylvester (Ptolemy Slocum) be able to be brought back online?
8. How long has the Man in Black been a human-host -- and how did he die?
That end-credits scene with the Man and Black (Ed Harris) and his daughter, Emily (Kajta Herbers) had us shook -- and while it was set up to trick viewers into thinking it was a continuation of the Man in Black going after Dolores to the forge, Herbers told ET it was actually set "far in the future." What does that mean? How far? The Man in Black was seen clinging to life on the beach -- so how did he die?
9. What's the next big mystery?
We had the maze, then we had the door -- what's next?
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