‘Westworld’ Season 3 Adds Lena Waithe, Won’t Air Until 2020
HBO is currently basking in the glory of their final season ofGame of Thrones, but the day is soon approaching when they no longer have the same stranglehold on the pop culture conversation as they do now. They’ve invested some serious money intoJonathan NolanandLisa Joy’s sci-fi western seriesWestworldas an heir apparent, but the audience hasdropped significantlyfrom the first to the second season.
But after a frustrating second season, the show is making all the right moves to hook me all over again. Multi-hyphenateLena Waithe(Ready Player One) has joined the cast forWestworldseason 3, which will air on the premium cable channel sometime in2020.
According toDeadline, Lena Waithe “will appear” onWestworldduring its third season, though the extent of her participation remains unclear. Is she just dropping by for one episode, or is she going to be a new series regular? The former seems more likely at this point, since announcements like these, even if they’re light on details, typically contain information about a performer’s status on a show.
Waithe is the first black woman to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, taking home the prize for her work on the season oneMaster of Noneepisode “Thanksgiving,” which featured her character coming out of the closet to her family. She got her start working as an assistant to Ava DuVernay, and eventually worked became a writer on shows likeBonesandTransparent. She produced the 2014 movieDear White People(and continues to be a close collaborator withDWPwriter/director Justin Simien), she’s the showrunner of the BET series Boomerang, and she created and executive produces the Showtime original seriesThe Chi. Plus, Waithe wrote and is producingQueen + Slim, a provocative new movie hitting theaters this November. This woman iseverywhere.
Waithe will joinfellow new recruit Aaron Paul(Breaking Bad) inWestworldseason 3, which – spoilers for season 2 ahead – will follow theEvan Rachel Wood’s Dolores inhabiting the body of a host robot replica ofTessa Thompson’s character Charlotte Hale. It’s implied that the action is going to shift away from the Delos theme parks and the hosts are going to infiltrate the “real world,“drastically changing the scope of the show.
Production is now underway onWestworldseason 3, which is said to be arriving on HBO sometime next year. Nolan and Joyjust signed a new deal with Amazon, but they plan to keep runningWestworldshould it be renewed for a fourth season and beyond.
