Surpsisingly, the creators behind HBO's Westworld recently announced that they will release every significant plot point of the show's second season before it airs, should fans want it
During a Reddit AMA, or "Ask Me Anything" on the Westworld Reddit page, showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy answered the all kinds of questions from fans of the show, but it was one comment in particular of theirs that stirred up quite a ruckus amongst the community. As the AMA reached its end, the couple announced their plan to combat spoilers online. Check it out below:
Many thanks for your great questions and thoughts. As I've said before, I've been a member of the Reddit community for years... And I greatly enjoyed watching the friendly folks at this subreddit guess the twists and turns of the season.
Nolan went on to explain that, while having active fans can be a good thing, but it can also lead to things being spoiled. Sometimes these "theories" can be mistaken for spoilers when fans of the show are correct, as they frequently were last season.
In an act of preventing that, Nolan has chosen to let the fans decide if they want the spoilers or not. If they do, he apparently plans to upload an entire video of spoilers from the season, allowing the fans online to protect one another from things they're fully aware are going to happen.
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. It's something we've 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 controversial) decision. If you guys agree, we're 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 what's 'theory' and what's spoiler.
'It's a new are, and a new world in terms of the relationship between folks making shows and the community watching them. And trust is a big part of that. We've made our cast a part of this decision, and they're fully supportive. We're so excited to be in this with you guys together. So if this post reaches 1000 upvotes we'll deliver the goods.
Hasta victoria siempre!
Jonah and Lisa
What do you think about the showrunners' tactic? Will this prevent the show being spoiled or only lead to more chaos?
UPDATE
The aforementioned comment recently reached its goal of 1000 upvotes. There has been no word from the showrunners just yet.
UPDATE #2
A newly created YouTube channel, by the name of
Singing Traveller047, uploaded the video in question. Don't worry about spoilers. It seems this was all an elaborate and spectacular "rick-roll" by the showrunners and cast.
The video itself starts off threateningly, but just over a minute in, we're treated to Evan Rachel Rood singing Rick Astley's famously mischevious song:
Never Gonna Give You Up, beside Angela Sarafyan (Clementine in the show) playing the piano in the centre of Sweetwater.
Well played
Westworld showrunners. Well played.