Westworld Season 5 Will Be Its Last, But HBO Hasn’t Renewed It

The much improved fourth season of HBO’s sci-fi series Westworld concluded last night with a cliffhanger for the ages. A cliffhanger that does, in fact, set up the end of the series. We just may never get to see it.

Recently, The Wrap spoke to Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy who confirmed that season 5 of Westworld will be the show’s final season. The only problem is HBO has not renewed the show yet, so it may not happen. Her quote gets into spoilers so, if you haven’t watched, beware…

“We had always planned on ending the series next season,” Joy told the trade. “You know, we always thought that Westworld should kind of come full circle and back to the West. But with Dolores, who was just a player in other people’s games, finally getting to write her own. Just to close up a lot of the stuff that we’ve seen before like the flashforward with The Man in Black and everything, so we have a plan for Season 5 but you know, life can make other plans for you. So we’ll just hope for the best.”

io9 reached out to HBO about this story but a spokesperson did not offer comment or clarification. As covered in our recap, Westworld season four ended with the updated version of Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) building a new version of the original Westworld in an attempt to give humanity one more chance at redemption. A chance that both humanity, and the hosts, have squandered time and time again. The difference this time though is she’s in control. It’s her world. her game.

“She was a ‘thing’ to people,” Joy said of Dolores. “She lived through countless lives and reboots where she was at the mercy of guests in a park, indulging in their vices and id. She’s seen a lot of human nature, and maybe enough to know how to structure something or give a game in which some kind of hope for it might emerge.”

Read more about the end of Westworld season 4 here and we’ll let you know if or when a fifth season is planned.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.