Season 2 of Westworld is going to bring women to the forefront — just like your other favorite show, Game of Thrones. According to Tessa Thompson, who plays executive director of the Delos board, Charlotte Hale, on Westworld, the second season is going to be more feminist than the first.
"I think [the women] rule the world in the park this season. It’s kind of all about the women and I think it might be a very feminist show as a matter of fact," Thompson, 33, told ELLE.com on the red carpet at the 2017 Emmy Awards.
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Season 1 of Westworld featured what felt like nascent feminism. In particular, Thandie Newton's character Maeve, a "host" that played madame at the local Westworld brothel, enacted a storyline that might as well have been an allegory for the feminist revolution. Maeve, a robot, grew sentient throughout the season. She discovered that she was on a loop, as all the hosts are, and took control of her loop by "killing" herself. Then, in the laboratory where the hosts are refurbished for yet another loop, Maeve woke, and proceeded to force a pair of bumbling technicians (Leonardo Nam and Ptolemy Slocum) to alter her intellectual makeup and abilities. Maeve donned contemporary garb and proceeded to plan her escape from Westworld. If season 1 was the beginnings of feminism, then season 2 could be full-blown women-in-power greatness.
Thompson, in the same interview, also mentioned Newton's character. She continued, "Particularly for the women that play hosts on the show...like Thandie Newton’s character who works in a brothel and can be had whenever people want her. This season you see her taking that entirely back and she’ll have anyone that she wants."
Based on the trailer for season 2, the same goes for Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), the park's oldest host who, it turns out, had a history of becoming sentient. In the season preview, Dolores rides on a horse, brandishing a rifle, shooting at park guests. In season 1, Dolores wouldn't have hurt a flea. (Of course, she did hurt a flea in the very first episode. Call that the inciting incident of the show.)
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This sci-fi "feminist revolution" played out another fantastical HBO show, Game of Thrones. The acclaimed fantasy series put its women at the forefront in season 7. Like the women of Westworld, most of the women on GOT are victims of sexual violence. They're not "victims" at all, though — Game of Thrones has become a tale of female survival despite an increasingly antagonistic world. Westworld, it seems, is following this trend. And we're utterly, 100% here for it.
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