The Westworld Season 1 finale left fans with some pressing questions with its cliffhanger ending – how would the park cope after the dramatic assassination of Dr. Ford by Dolores and the impending hoard of attacking hosts on the board of directors? What will happen with “Samuraiworld”? And what happened to fan-favorite side characters Elsie and Stubbs?
While Elsie’s fate is undetermined as of yet, fans of the duo who set out on a mission during Season 1 to help locate precisely what was going wrong within the park to cause the wave of malfunctioning hosts can rest a little easier, according to actor Luke Hemsworth (who plays Stubbs on the show). The Australian actor, brother to both Marvel movie star Chris Hemsworth (Thor, The Avengers) and Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth (Gale in the popular franchise) addressed his character’s fate in an interview with The Huffington Post. Hemsworth claimed, “Physically? He’s well. He’s doing all right. Just taking a sabbatical.”
Hemsworth’s character Stubbs was last seen in Episode 9 of the show’s first season where he was ambushed by a group of malfunctioning Native American hosts in the park. Stubbs did not reappear in the finale, leading fans to believe that he was gone for good. While Hemsworth did not explicity say his character will return, the possibility still remains, especially considering HBO’s strict rules for its actors on shows like Westworld to keep details under wraps. To lend the show credit, Westworld has proven to be an intelligent series that tends to stray away from leaving loose ends in its storylines. If Hemsworth claims to know his character is doing well and is still alive, it means Westworld isn’t quite done with Stubbs yet – which means the possibility of his return is promising.
When asked about Season 2, Hemsworth was vague. “It’s gotta get more complex,” Hemsworth posited. “If there’s any room for production values to get bigger—I don’t know how they’d do that—but I’m sure it will.” Considering Westworld was one of HBO’s most successful shows last year, it is safe to assume the network will be willing to allow showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy a good amount of freedom with budgeting and production value come Season 2, which is an exciting prospect for fans.
Westworld Season 2 has no official release date as of yet and is expected to arrive some time in 2018 on HBO.
