Popular American director Lisa Joy made headlines on Friday, November 4, when HBO announced the cancellation of the Primetime Emmy-winning television series Westworld. The show completed its fourth season only a couple of months before the cancellation and Lisa Joy revealed in October that she expects the series to return with at least another season.

The cancellation of Westworld comes as a part of HBO’s new owners, Warner Bros’ Discovery’s ongoing evaluation of programming. The show also had a significantly high production budget and was witnessing falling ratings and now after the merger with HBO, Warner Bros Discovery is trying to decrease its expense to as much as $3.5 billion in the upcoming three years.

Also Read: What are the Children’s and Family Emmy Awards?

Who is Lisa Joy?

Lisa Joy is a famous American producer, director, screenwriter as well as an attorney who is known widely for being one of the co-creators of the popular HBO series Westworld. She has been nominated several times for the Primetime Emmy Award in her career. Apart from Westworld, some of her notable works are Pushing Daisies and Burn Notice.

Joy was born on May 23, 1977, in New Jersey, United States to a Taiwanese mother and an English father. She spent her childhood in New Jersey before graduating from Stanford University and beginning her career at McKinsey & Company in Los Angeles.

She later went on to attend the Harvard Law School, before admitting to the bar in 2009 and started practicing in California before beginning her entertainment career. She married Jonathan Nolan, who is also the younger brother of popular director Christopher Nolan in 2009. The couple has two children, a daughter and a son.

Also Read: Henry Cavill, Guy Ritchie team up for The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: All you need to know

Lisa Joy began her entertainment career when she started writing scripts for ABC’s Pushing Daisies in 2007. She was studying for the bar at the time. She also wrote scripts for Burn Notice on USA Network later, before becoming a co-producer of the popular series.

However, the big career break for Lisa Joy came in 2016 when she became one of the co-creators for HBO’s sci-fi series Westworld. It became one of the most popular shows of the time and had four seasons, before it was cancelled in November 2022.