A familiar face from earlier seasons will be back for season 4 ofWestworld. PerDeadline,James Marsdenmade a surprise appearance at the ATX Festival on Saturday night with some of the creators and cast members of the HBO series. With his appearance, it was confirmed that Marsden will be back in season 4 after sitting out the third season, but he won’t necessarily be the same character.
Marsden will be returning toWestworldin a way similar to Evan Rachel Wood, with whom he shared many scenes in the first two seasons. Co-creator Lisa Joy confirmed that the plan is for Wood to play a new character named Christina who’s introduced as someone who appears to be an ordinary human living in New York City. She isnotthe Dolores that fans have gotten to know over the past three seasons but an entirely new character, and we can only imagine the physical similarities will be explained in some way in the series.
“She’s a normal woman living in a big city just trying to make it as a writer. Nothing ever happens to her, really. I think that’s all I can say," Wood teased of her new character.
Wood’s Christina will be shown navigating her romantic life which includes dating a man who just so happens to look exactly like Teddy Flood, Dolores' lover in Westworld storylines. That’s because Marsden plays this character as well, reuniting the two actors in the same series with each of them playing different characters who don’t seem to even know one another. Of course, as fans of the show will know, things are not quite always as they seem inWestworld.
“Sometimes you have to go away to come back,” Marsden said of his return. “We learn to speak cryptically on this show. This has been seven years of our show and yeah, it’s an amazing thing to be a part of and see where the story goes. From the beginning, I didn’t know where it was all going to go, but I’m glad to see it now.”
Related:Why Westworld Season 4 Should Conclude the Series
Westworld’s Creators Just Couldn’t Get Rid of Evan Rachel Wood
Season 3 ofWestworldended in such a way that it seemed like Evan Rachel Wood’s run on the series was over. But as co-creator Lisa Joy explained, getting rid of Wood just wasn’t an option, even if they had to write out the Dolores character. It has taken some creativity and we’ll eventually learn how this all factors in to the overall storyline, but the biggest reason for getting Wood back on board seems to be that the show simply couldn’t afford to lose her.
“Doloresisdead. But I really like Evan and she’s also kind of clinging so I had to bring her back. We write a whole new character for her," Joy said.
You can watch the first three seasons ofWestworldstreaming on HBO Max. Season 4 premieres on Sunday, June 26, on HBO.
