‘Westworld’ Season 2 Spoilers: Jeffrey Wright Talks Bernard’s New Role

Before Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) met his end in the season finale of “Westworld,” he shook hands with Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), the host version of his former partner, Arnold Weber (also played by Jeffrey Wright).

Wright told The Daily Beast that the symbolic act means Ford is passing on the reins to Bernard. “Yeah, I mean I think it’s at that point that Bernard begins to become aware of where this is all heading. So first there’s an awareness that Ford is going in a place that’s new and finite. That’s the beginning of the inkling for Bernard,” he said. “But yes, also there’s this suggestion that Bernard is the captain now. So there’s a lot to be explored next year.”

Wright is hopeful that Season 2 will take its cues from Season 1 because show creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy wonderfully wove multiple timelines into one story and delivered tons of surprises for fans.

“I think this show, from the beginning, kind of rises to that other level when narratives collide and fuse into something we didn’t expect,” he said. “Those moments for me are just so wonderfully satisfying and thrilling.”

The actor jokingly added that he has a lot of theories as to what will happen next season, but he refuses to share any of them because they might be wrong. Whatever the actors are speculating about Season 1, Wright said Nolan and Joy are “way on the other side of the curb from you.”

Unfortunately for fans, they will have to wait a while for the second season. “Definitely not coming back until 2018,” Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter.

In addition, Jimmi Simpson, the actor who plays young William, told Vanity Fair that he will not be reprising his role next season. Ed Harris, on the other hand, will continue as the Man in Black.

“Westworld” Season 2 will return to HBO on 2018.