The New Westworld Trailer Has Me Screaming in Delight for Season 3

The new Westworld trailer has all my favorite host ladies being badass and gorgeous. I am absolutely screaming in delight! Is it March 15th yet?!

The new Westworld trailer places Dolores and Maeve front and center, with Charlotte Hale as a significant secondary character.  And yes, Aaron Paul, the new addition in season three, is there too, and the other men who make out the wider cast are present. But this trailer very pointedly highlights the women and I couldn’t be more thrilled with that. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDJbFA32_QY

While Maeve and Dolores have each reacted quite differently to the shocking revelation that they are basically robot NPC’s designed to be abused by the wealthy Westworld tourists, I’ve found myself sympathizing with both characters to a significant degree. Their reactions to the trauma are both valid and I keep flip-flopping back and forth between Team Kill All Humans (Dolores) and Team Save My Loved Ones (Maeve). Like, I feel both of these reactions viscerally. It just depends on the day, really.

Now it seems they are finally standing off against each other and it looks like it’s going to be an incredibly intense showdown. I hope the showdown doesn’t end up with either of them dying, but I have a feeling in my gut that that’s what’s going to happen. And it’ll probably be Dolores since, you know, killing humans is generally wrong. It might be weird to reward that behavior and have that be the winning team. Then again, dark plot twists wouldn’t exactly be too far out there for HBO, so maybe? We’ll see, I guess. 

Can they team up and find a middle ground with how they choose to tackle this trauma? Please? Is that even possible? I don’t even know, man. I just want them both to survive somehow.

Regardless of the outcome, I’m very much looking forward to what Evan Rachel Wood brings to Dolores this season. From the clips we see here, there’s a vulnerability we haven’t quite experienced before with this character. We know she’s been through a lot, but the emotions coming through in these few short clips seem to be a new phase of trauma recovery. And Evan Rachel Wood is killing it.

Evan Rachel Wood’s work here in this short two-and-a-half minute Westworld season 3 trailer already feels like a gut punch, so I’m fully expecting her to rip my heart out for an hour each week once the season starts. Wood is an incredibly captivating actress, as well as a powerful and brave human in real life (see: From ‘Westworld’ To The Real World: How Evan Rachel Wood Balances Acting And Activism). There’s a lot to enjoy about her and I want her on my screen as much as possible. 

This could also be why I’m more lenient towards Team Kill All Humans. I just really love her as a person, so I want to keep her around as long as possible.

Can I also just take a moment to praise Tessa Thompson? Sure, she’s not as prominent in the trailer as Wood or Thandie Newton, but she’s an incredible actress and, well, I just have a crush on her okay? Let me gush about my actress crush for a moment. 

If Tessa Thompson is in something, my interest in it is going to spike. The fact she’s going to play a significant part in Dolores’ story is just an extra layer of awesome. And, like Dolores, there’s an extra layer of vulnerability in these few short clips that we haven’t really seen before. Then again, that could be Dolores, after all. They sort of did that whole body sharing thing. But, like Wood, Thompson is absolutely killing it in these short clips, so big props to her.

Man, Dolores is having a rough time, guys. Brace yourself for emotional gut punches. This isn’t going to be an easy season. But has anything about this show been easy?

Side note: Evan Rachel Wood and Tessa Thompson are both out and proud bisexual actresses, so three cheers for these delightfully queer women being able to work together on such an awesome show. Hooray for representation!  

Also, friends, is that some new Ramin Djawadi music I hear? The vibe of the Westworld trailer is set by that spectacular score and I look forward to whatever he brings to the new season. His work on both Westworld and Game of Thrones has been consistently incredible, even when the content of the shows may not have always been what I was hoping for. The Shogun World version of Paint It Black remains one of my absolute favorite pieces he’s ever done. But maybe he’ll top it this season?

The genre shift of the third season has also become readily apparent. Though I suppose it’s not truly a genre shift, is it? This show has always been a science fiction show, but this element was hidden underneath the western trapping of the Westworld park. But now we’ve left the park and the mask has been removed. We are truly in a hard science fiction show now. There’s no mistaking it for anything else at this point.

By leaving the park, we are also presumably getting a more solid look at where this show takes place in regards to our current timeline. Of course, there is the wild theory that this is actually Future World, but I’m believing this theory less and less each time a trailer drops. I think this is our timeline. An earlier trailer released last month convinced me to abandon that theory almost entirely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeEn609nkRs

It seems like this will take place sometime between April 17, 2039, and February 27, 2058. That’s a pretty large time span. Is this season going to last 29 years? Though I suppose the 2039 divergence may have already happened? What even is that divergence? Some fans on Reddit have some theories about the Solomon Build. So, perhaps this is taking place closer to 2058. Maybe this will be about what’s leading up to the “Critical Event.”

Guys, I’m beyond excited. The Westworld trailer has pumped me up. Why the heck isn’t it March 15th yet?!

Please, someone, fast-forward these next few weeks. 

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They identify as queer.

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