Over a year ago, before they had even started to shoot Westworld Season 2, series creators and married couple Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy indicated to a packed audience at Paleyfest that they were noodling some ideas on how to keep their twist-filled HBO series from being ruined by Reddit detectives and spoiler-fiends posing as theorists. On Monday morning, less than two weeks before the Season 2 premiere, and at the tail-end of a Reddit AMA, the duo revealed their solution at last: spoil everything.
In a message to the Reddit faithful, the Nolans explained that if they received enough support from fans, they would post a pre-season video detailing the entire plot of Season 2 in order to protect fans from knowing . . . the entire plot of Season 2. Once parsed, their logic is actually quite sound and shows, perhaps, a new way forward for creatives in this age of obsessive, digital fandom.
Back at Paleyfest 2017, citing the first four or five seasons of Game of Thrones as an example, Lisa Joy pointed out that the shows success wasnt dampened in the slightest by thousands (millions?) of A Song of Ice and Fire book readers knowing almost every turn of the plot in advance. “Knowing the ending,” she said with a smile, ”doesnt ruin the journey.” Her husband, meanwhile, was cracking jokes about the nimble minds over at Reddit throughout the panel. When asked about some of the unanswered questions from Season 1 (particularly whether Evan Rachel Woods Dolores had achieved free will), Nolan smirked: “Im waiting for the message boards on Reddit to tell us.”
This friendly, relaxed attitude already put the Nolans in a better position than some other creatives who have unsuccessfully tried to wage war with a spoiler-addicted fandom. Nolan once again cited those early, very popular seasons of Game of Thrones on Monday in a Reddit announcement that declared:
Hey Reddit!
Many thanks for your great questions and thoughts. As Ive said before, Ive been a member of the reddit community for years (no Im not going to share my original username…). And I greatly enjoyed watching the friendly folks at this subreddit guess the twists and turns of the season.
It creates a larger problem for us, though, in terms of the way your guesswork is reported online. Theories can actually be spoilers, and the line between the two is confusing. Its something weve been thinking about since last season. The fans of Game of Thrones, for instance, rallied around and protected the secrets of the narrative in part because they already knew those secrets (through Season 5).
We thought about this long and hard, and came to a difficult (and potentially highly controversial) decision. If you guys agree, were going to post a video that lays out the plot (and twists and turns) of Season 2. Everything. The whole sordid thing. Up front. That way the members of the community here who want the season spoiled for them can watch ahead, and then protect the rest of the community, and help to distinguish between whats theory and whats spoiler.
Its a new age, and a new world in terms of the relationship between the folks making shows and the community watching them. And trust is a big part of that. Weve made our cast part of this decision, and theyre fully supportive. Were so excited to be in this with you guys together. So if this post reaches a 1,000 upvotes well deliver the goods.
Hasta victoria siempre!
Jonah and Lisa
As of publication time, the Reddit post had not quite reached the requisite 1,000 upvotes; though, only four hours into the experiment, its already over halfway with 530. HBO provided a comment confirming that the Reddit post had come from the Nolans and, in true Westworld fashion, hinting at more to come: “This is an initiative from the Westworld showrunners. We suggest you stay tuned to Reddit for their next move.”
But elsewhere on the Internet, fans of the HBO western have been a little less neutral, with some fans declaring it foolish to think that those who dont want to know the plot of Season 2 have a shot of going in clean when spoiler-fiends are out there potentially ready to drop knowledge in any given comments section or tweet. But the Nolans seem less concerned with fans discovering the twists of their story and more concerned with blocking anyone attempting to pass off ill-gotten spoiler knowledge as theories. The Nolans also appear to be deputizing their white-hatted “good” fans to protect those viewers hoping to remain innocent.
One section in particular—“fans of Game of Thrones, for instance, rallied around and protected the secrets of the narrative in part because they already knew those secrets (through Season 5)”—seems to refer to those Thrones viewers who tried to keep their friends in the dark about seminal events like Ned Starks death or the Red and Purple Weddings in order to watch, with delight, as the shock and surprise washed over them. This gave rise to popular Thronesreaction videos where spoiled viewers (or book readers) secretly taped their loved ones as they processed the grief of losing beloved characters.
This solution from the Nolans is not perfect, but is, at the very least, one that can both keep everyone in the fandom (including online recappers and pop-culture journalists) honest about their intentions and ease up some of the pressure on cast and crew members as they endeavor to do press while also guarding the secrets of the season.
Should the post receive the requisite upvotes then well all discover in real-time whether or not this is the smartest solution for mystery-box shows going forward. HBO will discover if letting the cat out of the bag will hurt ratings. (I suspect not.) Fans and reviewers will discover if Westworld has anything more substantive to offer beyond narrative twists. (I suspect yes.) And Reddit detectives and recappers alike will have to find new details to pore over. (I suspect there will be plenty.) Sure it all sounds pretty disruptive, but doesnt that seem wholly appropriate for a show thats about cutting-edge innovation, rebellious bots blowing up that status quo, and counts Elon Musk among one of its most ardent fans?
Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Joanna RobinsonJoanna Robinson is a Hollywood writer covering TV and film for VanityFair.com.
[contf] [contfnew] 
Vanity Fair
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
