Now We Know Why Westworld Was Delayed

Johnathon Nolan spoke about the reasons behind Westworld’s mysterious delay.

Once upon a time, Westoworld was one of the most anticipated HBO projects. After some strange details started to leak out, it all began to crumble. What was once a fast-moving series was put on hold. Considering all that had occurred with Westworld, the delay wasn’t exactly surprising. It was just another part of the saga.

Now, in an interview with io9, showrunner Jonathon Nolan finally spoke about the problems that encountered. His enthusiasm for the project is real, and might just be enough to reignite the hype. Eventually.

"“We needed to shut down in order for [co-creator] Lisa [Joy] and I to write the rest of the scripts…This was strictly a question of our ability to write, produce and direct,”"

All things considered, it’s not a very exciting reason. In fact, it’s fairly humdrum. Nolan was not properly prepared for what it takes to fully helm a HBO project, especially one of this size. Part of that seems to be a sort of unbridled enthusiasm for the work:

"“We came out of the gate very, very, quickly, because we wanted to get on the air as early as possible, and so we started shooting with only a handful of episodes in hand…Nothing that I have done prepared me for the sheer avalanche [of production requirements],”"

Westworld is a large undertaking, and apparently Nolan was not prepared for it. That led to a necessary stand-still and allowed him to cut his teeth a bit more on Person of Interest. Production is apparently ready to resume, and hopefully this time there will be fewer hiccups.

For those curious about what Westworld will eventually be like, Nolan described it as a “10 hour movie” and not a typical television series. He also described the various ideas at play, which sound bonkers:

"“We’re doing a period Western, and a science fiction [movie]…Basically, we’re shooting Alien, Days of Heaven and Unforgiven simultaneously, and then cutting them all together… It’s just a massive, massive undertaking.”"

Next: Are there too many Game of Thrones talkshows?

If done correctly, Westworld could be a gigantic hit for HBO. A version of Alien and Days of Heaven sounds fantastic, but we’ll have to wait and see how it pans out.