Westworldpremiered in 2016 on HBO, a cable network known for its hit dramas such asThe Sopranos,Game of Thrones, andTrue Blood. Based on a 1973 film directed by Michael Crichton,Westworld’s first season takes place in a Wild West-themed amusement park where visitors may engage with lifelike host androids to indulge in various activities.
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By the end of Season 1, the hosts have begunan uprising against their human puppeteers. While it seems like a series primed for lots of bloodshed and casualties, it’s quite the opposite; hosts can always be rebuilt, while human characters are often replaced by host counterparts. Nevertheless, these deaths, even if temporary, tugged at our heartstrings.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
8Theresa Cullen
One of the first major deaths during Season 1 ofWestworldinvolved Theresa Cullen, a senior manager at Delos Inc.Her attention to detail on the park’s various malfunctionsand safety concerns put her at odds with Robert Ford in the show’s early episodes. Soon enough, however, her plan to oust Ford’s deliberate sabotage of the hosts goes awry.
Though she seems to gain Bernard’s trust and allegiance, she later discovers blueprints for Bernard that seem to prove that he’s a host. Cornered by Ford and his creation, Theresa is unfortunately killed by Bernard on Ford’s orders. It’s one of thebiggest plot twistsin the show’s early episodes and sees a brutal and early end for Theresa.
7Maeve Millay
Thandiwe Newton’s Maeve is one of the stand-out characters inWestworld,slowly gaining sentience throughout the first season. As the show progresses, she becomes determined to find her daughter, a host that was taken from her in a previous memory. While the character reappears in later seasons, she meets a tragic fate at the end of Season 2.
While trying to escape Westworld, Maeve rescues her daughter and her new host mother with the help of Akecheta, another host. As they pass through the door to the other side, they are swarmed by a horde of infected hosts, seemingly killing them. Thankfully, the show follows a recreation of Maeve starting with Season 3.
6Charlotte Hale
Charlotte Hale is one of the first characters to pose a threat to Ford in the first season ofWestworld. As the new executive director of the park, she directly opposes Ford’s planned host uprising, which eventually is set into motion anyway. She eventually becomes the central antagonist of Season 2, trying to thwart Dolores' rebellion.
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Unfortunately, the human version of Hale meets a tragic end in the Season 2 finale, “The Passenger.” Bernard creates a host copy of Hale, which Dolores takes control of and kills the real Hale with. In subsequent seasons,the Hale host is occupied by Doloresduring her quest for sentience and power.
5Logan Delos
One of the many intertwining storylines in Season 1 involves the park guests William and Logan. It’s revealed at the end of the season that William is actually a younger version of the Man in Black, played by Ed Harris. Logan, on the other hand, is William’s cocky friend, whose experience in Westworld often conflicts with William’s sense of morality.
By the end of Season 1, William’s experiences bring out the worst in him, resulting in him enacting a takeover of Delos Inc. It’s inferred throughout Season 2 that William’s betrayal of Logan eventually results in him overdosing on drugs.While Logan is hardly sympathetic in the show’s early episodes, it’s quite a disturbing fate for such an important early character.
4Francis Beaufort
Season 3 ofWestworldintroduces Aaron Paul as Caleb, a war veteran-turned-construction worker who takes criminal jobs for extra money. He eventually becomes tied up in Dolores' rebellion, which triggers his trauma from war, having killed his best friend Francis (played by Scott Mescudi, more well known by his music moniker Kid Cudi).
Eventually,the circumstances of Francis' death are revealed. Caleb and Francis were part of a unit sent to arrest rebels during a civil war in Russia, but when Francis accepted a bounty to kill Caleb, Caleb killed Francis in retaliation. Caleb was then later brainwashed to believe that Francis instead died in war, convincing Caleb to commit to Dolores' cause.
3Elsie Hughes
Elsie’s beginnings at the Westworld park are humble. She works with Bernard, as a programmer testing hosts for behavioral problems. She’s an easy character to root for, as she’s sympathetic to the hosts, unlike most other Delos employees. Eventually, her investigation brushes up against Ford’s plan, resulting in Bernard being sent to kidnap her.
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Her fate is ultimately a mystery by the end of Season 1, though Elsie eventually reappears in Season 2. After discovering that Bernard is a host and possibly still under Ford’s control, she attempts to appeal to Charlotte to allow Bernard to stay. Sadly, Charlotte subsequently kills Elsie, ending the life of one of the show’smost humane characters.
2Arnold Weber
Arnold is mentioned mostly by name in the first season ofWestworld, referred to as Ford’s former partner. It’s later revealed in the finale that Bernard is a recreation of Arnold, who died thirty years before the present-day timeline. After discovering that hosts were able to gain sentience, Arnold felt empathetic towards them and attempted to help them.
Arnold’s failure to help hosts like Dolores gain sentience results in him being disgusted by the way hosts are treated in the park. He eventually goes mad, programming Dolores to kill all the other hosts. After she succeeds,Dolores executes Arnold by his own ordersand then commits suicide. His tragic fate hangs over most of the show’s events even long after.
1Emily Grace
By far the saddest death in four seasons ofWestworldis Emily Grace, the daughter of William, a.k.a. the Man in Black.The character first appears during the second season, finding William inside Westworld and attempting to rescue him. By that point, however, William’s distrust of Ford’s game leads to him believing that she’s a host.
Despite all Emily does to attempt to convince him of the opposite, William ends up killing her. However, when he cuts open her arm expecting to see a host’s innards, it’s human flesh. His discovery that he killed his own daughter sends William down an extremely dark path, eventually contemplating suicide over the guilt.
