Westworld is cancelled. The Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan programme about robots and apocalypses hooked, then perplexed, and by the time its fourth and last season aired early this year, audiences appeared to have completely forgotten what it was about. So, while the show’s cancellation is unfortunate, it also comes as a little surprise.

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In an email about the cancellation, HBO stated, “Over the past four seasons, Lisa and Jonah have taken viewers on a mind-bending odyssey, raising the bar at every step. We are tremendously grateful to them, along with their immensely talented cast, producers and crew, and all of our partners at Kilter Films, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television. It’s been a thrill to join them on this journey.”

The last season, when contrasted to other seasons, could occasionally feel redundant. The third season saw the cast, under the direction of Evan Rachel Wood, put a stop to the rule of an AI that had a slightly Google-like omnipresence at the end of the second season. That also might have made for a very nice conclusion.

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Then, in a future in which all the characters appeared to be dead, robots, or dead robots, Westworld returned for a fourth time. There were a few apocalypses, a lot of enjoyable flashbacks to previous seasons, and a lot of self-reflection. The ratings plummeted.

Therefore, it is not unexpected that HBO ripped the cord. Warner Bros. Discovery currently owns HBO, and its CEO, David Zaslav, is a man who enjoys finding ways to save costs. On a recent conference call, he stated, “I believe that the grand experiment of chasing subscribers at any cost is over.” 

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The Big Bang Theory reruns were the next expensive show he mentioned that might be cancelled if it didn’t do as well. In its last season, Westworld averaged fewer than 500,000 live viewers each episode. TBS reruns of The Big Bang Theory generate more than twice as much.