'Westworld' Season 2: The Door and the Game, Explained

Television


THR lays out all the facts and theories about season two’s mysterious “Door,” updating all season long.

[This story contains full spoilers for the season two premiere of HBO’s Westworld.]

“The maze isn’t meant for you.”

The Man in Black (Ed Harris) encountered those six frustrating words on more than one occasion in the first season of Westworld — but much like another bald hunter on another Bad Robot show, the gunslinger we now know as William doesn’t like being told what he can and can’t do.

With that said, the maze William sought throughout season one truly wasn’t meant for him, and not for any personal reasons. As revealed in the finale, the maze was an exercise for hosts to discover their own consciousness, represented literally in the form of a handheld marble game; not so impressive to William, based on how he idly minded the game once he found it. 

In season two, however, William is walking on a new path that’s very much meant for him: the “game,” as the Little Boy (a young host version of Robert Ford, played by Oliver Bell) names it. Given how much of a central role the maze played in the first season, one imagines the game will have an equally vital role this year — and in that spirit, we’re laying out everything we know about Ford’s new activity for the Man in Black below, updating throughout the season with more information as it comes in.

From season two, episode one, “Journey Into Night” (aired 4/22/18):

• First, let’s put down on paper what young Ford tells William about the game: “What I’ve always appreciated about you is you’ve never rested on your laurels. You made it to the center of Arnold’s maze, but now, you’re in my game. In this game, you have to make it back out. You must find the door. Congratulations, William: this game is meant for you.”

• Young Ford mentions “the door” as the key object of the game, and the name is the same as the subtitle creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy bestowed upon season two: “The Door.” The masterminds behind Westworld have described the season as “a search for what else is beyond the park, and what else is in the park.” 

• As a pivotal member of the Delos board behind Westworld, William knows a lot about the park from a bird’s eye view, and even on a gritty street level given the blood, sweat and tears he’s poured into his immersive trips. But there are doors that are hidden even to someone with Bernard’s (Jeffrey Wright) clearance levels, as seen in Charlotte (Tessa Thompson) activating a hidden outpost in the season premiere. One can easily see the Man in Black having a similarly profound level of ignorance to Westworld’s secret passageways, both the literal and figurative ones.

• On a fundamental level, a maze is something you’re “in,” while a door is something you pass through. The maze implies discovery and transformation; the door implies momentum and action, even transportation. This season, we’re finally set to explore the multiple parks outside of Westworld. Will the door require William to transport to one of these parks?

• Ford offers a clue: “The game begins where you end, and ends where you began.” William first arrived at the Mesa on a train ride, and first arrived in Westworld proper through a door that led to another train. If the door is something literal, the very first door in Westworld we ever saw William walk through seems as strong a guess as any.

• William snarls at Ford: “Even now, you’re speaking in code?” Ford retorts: “Everything here is code, William. You know that more than anyone.” If everything here is code, then Ford’s comment about everything being a code is also probably a code. Insert mindblown Eric Warehim gif here.

• Ford’s final words: “The game will find you.” The way it’s phrased makes it sound like the game is something with agency. Paired with the game being where William begins and ends, one wonders if the game is none other than the most important host in the Man in Black’s life: Dolores.

From season two, episode two: “Reunion” (airing 4/29/18):

• Facts, theories and wild speculation from episode two will be posted here on April 30.

What are your theories about the game? Sound off in the comments below and follow all of our coverage over at THR.com/Westworld.

Westworld

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