Westworld: Wait, What If Logan Is the Man in Black?

If the scenes with William and Logan really are set in Westworld’s past, maybe we’re focusing on the wrong man when we’re looking for the identity of the Man in Black.

Even though it would be an acknowledgement of some slick storytelling on the part of the Westworld showrunners and writers if it turns out to be true, I’m not 100 percent on-board with the theory that the guest we know as William turns out to be the Man in Black.

It’s not because that hypothesis is implausible. If you accept the fact that the scenes with William and Logan are taking place 30 years ago and being presented to us without transitions — including the end of episode 3, where Delores staggered and fell into William’s arms — it lines up perfectly.

William comes to Westworld as a naive first-timer, plays along with the narratives, maybe even falls for Dolores in earnest, then gets upset when he’s told there’s nothing more. He gets free rein of the park because of something that happens to him we’ve yet to see (almost certainly involving the first “critical failure”) and ends up a fanatical repeat visitor, trying desperately to ascertain if there’s more than first meets the eye.

A fun theory, to be sure, but also one that’s been bandied about nonstop since “The Stray” aired on Sunday. So let’s take it in a different direction, one suggested to me by one of my brothers: What if it’s Logan, not William, who ends up as the Man in Black?

This presumes the same set-up, that their scenes are taking place decades in the past. The difference is that it’s Logan, who initially is interested only in the pleasures of the flesh, is the one who ultimately experiences something tragic — maybe the death of William, who really does seem like a good dude, would qualify.

Initially convinced there’s nothing to Westworld except a good time with no rules, Logan might be persuaded otherwise after seeing his friend killed by the hosts (who we’ve been assured are not “real” by the person in charge of the place). In turn, that would keep him coming back for more, motivated to find out if his friend’s death was in vain.

That might not seem as dramatic as a turn by William would be thanks to his highly dramatic and “look at me, I’m signaling something symbolic” choice of the white hat before he entered the park, but I’d argue that going from cynic to the number one true believer would be just as big a character arc. Plus the Man in Black’s callous disregard for the well-being of hosts already fits nicely with what we’ve seen from Logan.

Related Story: Westworld: 5 things we think we learned from episode 3

Westworld throws trickier curveballs than Clayton Kershaw, so it’s possible no one is on the right track when it comes to the identity of the Man in Black. That includes us, but we do think it’s worth keeping in mind that when it comes to this particular mystery, there’s more than one suspect.