As Westworld dusts off its cowboy hat and takes a bow after its sensationally popular first season, we should save some applause for its host network as well. For months leading up to the sci-fi drama’s debut, the narrative was pretty unequivocal: HBO needed a new hit drama, and Westworld was its best shot. The ingredients were all there: a pre-existing fan base, ominous mystery, genre fun, and stars with followings of their own. (Hello, Anthony Hopkins!) And on Sunday, Westworld ended on a viewership high, making it the most-watched original first season in HBO’s history. Indeed, it seems the premium cabler has found its next Game of Thrones—unless it actually found something bigger.
Sunday’s finale attracted more than 3.6 million eyeballs, counting replays and digital views, Deadline reports. Across all platforms, the drama hit an average of 12 million weekly viewers. As Deadline notes, it’s the network’s first big-drama debut since True Detective.
As Game of Thrones approaches its final, truncated seasons, all eyes have been on HBO to create a popular drama to replace its flagship series. After True Detective’s unpopular second season and Vinyl’s rapid flop, the pressure only intensified. Thankfully, it looks like the nail-biting period is over—at least for now. By launching a franchise in a genre completely separate from that of Thrones, HBO has also left itself room to continue possibly mulling that Game of Thrones spin-off that’s always vaguely blowing in the wind—without risking fantasy fatigue.
Spin-off or not, HBO has now placed itself in a very comfortable position for the immediate future. For a short period, at least, it will have two mega-successful dramas running simultaneously. And although it’s unwise to prognosticate too forcefully after only one season, Westworld could potentially outdo its medieval predecessor in time. Why? First, there’s the assist from Game of Thrones itself: the sci-fi show was often framed as a possible successor to George R.R. Martin’s world, and so it’s not hard to imagine that Westworld got a boost from fans eager for similarly violent delights. But what makes Westworld even more fascinating—and possibly more enduring—are all the ways it differentiates itself from Game of Thrones.
While both shows feature plentiful gore and sex, Westworld has cleverly framed itself as a critique of the same sort of gratuitous moments that Game of Thrones seems to relish. There’s room for both approaches in anyone’s media diet, of course, but as other shows increasingly lean into their violent shticks, Westworld stands little risk of feeling redundant. Another interesting differentiator for this series? The potential to explore the other parks affiliated with Westworld—say, perhaps, one that’s populated by samurai. Thanks to the other worlds that may exist in this universe, Westworld has the potential to tap into separate stories and switching things up without going full anthology. (As we learned from True Detective, sometimes it’s good not to diverge too far from where you started.)
The biggest factor in determining how Westworld might grow, however, could be the theory-inducing mysteries at its center. On one hand, the show’s endless supply of twists and editing tricks proved addictive fodder for theory-happy diehards. On the other, some have argued that the drama’s endless supply of gambits came at the expense of character development.
Now that most of the series’s animatronic cats are out of the bag, what will the next season look like? Could there be another set of mysteries on the way, or will we see a significant stylistic gear-shift? Either way, it will be interesting to see where it goes next—and how many viewers will continue to follow the journey.
