Westworld: What to Know Before the Season 2 Premiere

Returning Sunday for its second season, HBO's Westworld is a sci-fi Western thriller about a technologically advanced amusement park populated by semi-self-aware androids and packed with philosophical, theological, technological and phantasmagorical mysteries and revelations. That means, of course, unless you go back and re-watch Season 1, you probably don't remember all the twists, turns and reveals of the finale and, like most of us, are wondering what it all means.

Whether you didn't have time to puzzle over the first season again, don't trust yourself to have caught everything or you know you can't trust the showrunners to give you any Season 2 hints (because #SpoilerCulture), here's a handy round-up of things to keep in mind ahead of the premiere on Sunday.

Where Everyone Is

There are plenty of Easter eggs you may want to remind yourself of before beginning Season 2, but mostly it's important to recall where the main characters ended up, and what they do or do not understand about themselves as humans or hosts (that is, androids). Here's where each character left off:

Bernard Lowe: One of Season 1's biggest twists comes in Episode 7, "Trompe L’Oeil," when Dr. Ford (Anthony Hopkins) reveals to Bernard (Jeffrey Wright), a behavioral specialist for the park, that he is actually one of the androids he helps to maintain. Ford has been using Bernard to carry out his dirty work and then erasing his memory. At the end of the season, he's fully aware of everything and starts to see that Ford may have had a redemptive plan after all. He will likely play a crucial moderator in Season 2 as a host whom most people think is human.

Dolores and Teddy: Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) as we discover in the finale's biggest reveal, is now all kinds of woke. Last seen shooting at a crowd of unsuspecting park board members, Dolores shot Dr. Ford in the head and whispered a few words into Teddy's (James Marsden) ear to get him to remember what they've been through.

Maeve: After letting her gang (Hector and Armistice) loose on the labs and corporate offices of Westworld, Maeve (Thandie Newton) was going to take the next train out to see what there is in the real world. She gets off at the last second, although it's not clear whether that's because she realizes her programming to "escape" may have more to do with why she wants to flee, or that her newly returned memories of her daughter have compelled her to find her.

The Man in Black, aka William: After a fight with Dolores when she wouldn't explain what or where the "center of the maze," during which she realizes he's the older version of the young man she once loved and believed to be good, Old Man Billy (Ed Harris) mosies over to the board party for a few drinks. After all, he owns the park. When the hosts wake up and open fire on the board members, William looks positively elated to have his wish: hosts who fight back.

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Dr. Ford: Well, it doesn't look good for him, that's for sure. You may recall Dolores shooting Ford in the head. Plenty of fans will argue that, in a world in which lifelike androids exist, a fake version of Ford could have died in his place. Considering Anthony Hopkins' one-season contract, though, it's probably best to assume he's dead.

Clementine: Formerly lobotomized and stuck in cold storage, Maeve's friend (Angela Sarafyan) woke up with the rest of the sleeping hosts who made their way to the board of trustees party. She was last seen shooting at the Man in Black.

Abernathy: Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) stuffed Dolores' once-father, played by Louis Herthum, full of DELOS secrets and code with the intention of smuggling him out of the park. Now that the androids are a bit more, ahem, aware of their situation, his jam-packed mind could be the undoing of DELOS.

Elsie: Bernard's clever co-worker (Shannon Woodward) was quickly uncovering some serious internal espionage in the park when she went missing. After realizing he's a host, Bernard recovers a memory of strangling her. However, she may be alive yet.

Logan: William's brother-in-law-to-be (Ben Barnes) was last seen in what we now know was a flashback, naked and tied to a horse, riding off into the distance. William decided he'd rather he end up the one poised to take over the business, and making Logan look less trustworthy as a businessman is all too easy.

What to Look Out For

Black Hats & White Hats: Every park visitor, aside from women, perhaps, have to choose either a white or black hat before entering the park. In theory, that signifies whether they intend to be hero or villain. William chose white but switched to black later in life. Because there are likely to be a fair amount of tourists trapped at the park as the battle between hosts and humans begins, knowing which new characters to trust may be a matter of paying attention to their hats.

The Wolf: A visual representation of Dolores's spirit animal, a wolf appears whenever a host goes on a rampage. There are a lot of theories about what it means, but it likely ties into the Native American themes of the show.

Other DELOS Theme Worlds: We know we'll get Shogun World, for at least a whole episode, but there are likely to be hints, or entire reveals, of the other worlds in the park. An online Easter egg hunt shows there are six parks total, four of which have glitchy videos and are thus unrecognizable. There's no clue whether these other worlds' hosts received Arnold's reveries and are also becoming self-aware. Medieval World and Roman World were featured in the original 1973 film, and Futureworld was in the 1976 sequel, so we ought to keep an eye out for any hints about them. And considering all the subtle Jurassic Park references littered throughout the first season — Michael Crichton created both Westworld and Jurassic Park — it would be fun to see even a small clue that a dino-themed park exists.

Drone Hosts: This previously unseen android is used by DELOS to (perhaps) carry out the dirty work. They look like they may be mindless and weaponized, a real problem for our now sentient hosts.

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The Real World: We see people get on and off the train to Westworld, but no one's gotten off on the other end just yet. The trailer for Season 2 suggests some real time is spent outside the park, although whether these are flashbacks or real time is iffy. For one, we see Dolores in modern clothing, which may suggest William tried to hold some sort of relationship with her in the outside world (once he was powerful enough in the company to do so).

The Biggest Questions For Season 2

1. Did Dr. Ford intend for Dolores to shoot him as part of his new narrative, or was that all just a part of his speech, and his actual final act was to rid the hosts of narratives entirely and allow them to take control of their destinies? The mass awakening of the cold-storage hosts would suggest there is some programming to blame, especially as they knew to head to the board meeting and begin shooting. The biggest (maybe) clue that Ford is still pulling a few strings is the title of the Season 2 premiere episode, "Journey Into Night." Ford told the board members this was the name of his new narrative.

2. What data is so important to DELOS? Charlotte is in on the true motives of the corporate overlords (hello, new character James Delos), and she's smuggling out data. But what is this secret project? It looks likely to be a sort of modern parallel to the current debate around social platforms and personal data. Perhaps DELOS is selling/using information about what people do while in the park.

3. Are those modern scenes in the trailer part of the new season's sneaky flashbacks, or do some of the hosts make their way out of the park? We see Logan for a second in the teaser, looking young, which is a big clue these scenes are set in the pat. Not to mention Jimmi Simpson is slated to return to play young William.

4. What is "The Door"? If Season 1's subtitle was "The Maze," then why is Season 2 called "The Door"? Given that "the maze" ended up being a metaphor for the unlocking of the conscious mind, "the door" may be some way of pushing through to a higher consciousness. Or, could it be more technical, as a literal digital doorway to the outside world? What if hosts could transfer their consciousnesses to other host bodies?

5. Does Dolores have other "personalities," like Wyatt? Like past lives, the scenes showing Dolores in a modern landscape may be more of her memories resurfacing. She's been around for 30 years; she could have been many different versions of herself. That said, so could the other hosts.

Premiering Sunday, April 22, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO, Westworld Season 2 stars Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Rodrigo Santoro, James Marsden, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Luke Hemsworth, Jimmi Simpson and Ed Harris.