‘Westworld’ Season 2 Debuts With Dip In Ratings: What Went Wrong?

Despite the hype surrounding the return of “Westworld” Season 2 in HBO, the show sadly had a dip in viewership during its 70-minute season premiere on Sunday night.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the show attracted three million viewers across cable and digital platforms, which is lower compared to the 3.3 million viewers who watched its Season 1 premiere back in 2016.

Given the fact that the season finale of “Westworld” garnered 3.6 million viewers, people expected that the continuation would draw in even more people. Sadly, that was not the case.

HBO spared no expense promoting “Westworld” Season 2, since it bought its first Super Bowl ad in decades and even built a Westworld-inspired town in Texas with actors playing hosts during the South by Southwest film festival.

However, there were several other things to consider. The show was only aired by HBO twice instead of three times back in 2016. It did not help that the hiatus was a wee bit long - “Westworld” came back after 16 months off the air.

Hopefully, things will get better for the show as it progresses.

The show’s cast already praised the second season endlessly months before its premiere. Jimmi Simpson, who returns as young William, said that “Westworld” continues to be a mystery box of surprises.

“In the David Cronenberg film ‘Scanners,’ there’s a scene where Michael Ironside is demonstrating his psychic abilities. If your mind was blown by the first season, than in Season 2, you’re definitely the guy with glasses that gets the dark side of Ironside,” he told Collider.

James Marsden, who plays host Teddy Flood, also agreed. “You will not be disappointed,” he said. “The world that we created will be completely expanded upon, and the themes and the philosophies will all be taken to the next degree. The one thing I can say is that it just feels so much bigger this year. There’s a bigger cast, we’re shooting sometimes three units at once, whereas the first season it was always just one unit so the scope of the whole thing has definitely grown.”

“Westworld” Season 2 premiered on April 22 on HBO.