Westworld: Could William and the Man in Black be the Same Person?

One of the cooler Westworld fan theories suggests we’re not seeing the show play out in chronological order.

Of all of the characters introduced so far on Westworld, the most enigmatic is definitely the Man in Black. On the surface, he seems like a menace, carelessly butchering hosts and refusing to play along with the park’s narrative even a little bit.

Still, it’s clear there’s much more to discover about Ed Harris’ character and his motivations. He’s said himself that he’s been coming to the park for 30 years, and it’s probably not a coincidence that the “critical failure” we’ve heard talked about happened exactly that long ago.

That suggests that the Man in Black was around when it happened. Some fans have taken that line of thinking even further and offered up the idea that we’re watching his first trip to the park right now.

This theory posits that the sequences we’re seeing with William (played by Jimmi Simpson) and Logan are not playing out in the present, but rather in the past. Evidence to support it include the fact that Teddy Flood (James Marsden) was not in the train when the two men rode into town, and that the station at which they first arrive at Westworld looks suspiciously like the sub-basement that is now being used for cold storage for deactivated hosts.

The thinking is that William falls for Dolores in the past, but something happens to make him both angry and obsessed with the park. Thus, he keeps coming back — and is allowed to do whatever he wants while he’s there, something we’ve already seen in the case — and makes the switch from his original white hat decision to full on black hat (and black everything else, obviously).

There’s nothing that’s been shown so far to explicitly point out that some of the scenes in Westworld are taking place out of chronological order, but there’s nothing to say they aren’t, either. You’d have to admit it would be a great twist and a fantastic way to reveal the Man in Black’s backstory.

Are you buying this link between William and the Man in Black, or do you have your own favorite theory about Harris’ quest to find the maze? Let us know in the comments section.

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