HBO has revealed the runtime for Westworld season 3's premiere episode. Additionally, the network has unveiled some new character posters that add to the mystery. The hit HBO series will only consist of eight episodes this time around, which is shorter than the previous two seasons. With that being said, the show's fans are hoping that the episodes will be on the longer side this season, much like Game of Thrones did for its final season.
The first episode of Westworld season 3 will clock in at 1 hour and 8 minutes. While similar to last season's premiere episode, it's actually down 2 minutes. It also doesn't come close to the hour-and-a-half second season finale. Regardless, fans are still excited to see what Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan have prepared for this season. So far, we've seen several teases, thanks to the official trailer which was released last week. But, hardcore fans have seen even more footage after three hidden trailers were discovered through the Privacy Act tab of the show's Incite website.
HBO also revealed Westworld season 3 character posters. They include Evan Rachel Wood's Dolores Abernathy, Aaron Paul's Caleb, Thandie Newton's Maeve Millay, Jeffrey Wright's Bernard Lowe/Arnold Weber, Tessa Thompson's Charlotte Hale, and Ed Harris' William/The Man in Black. Each poster has the tagline, "Free Will Is Not Free," which has been teased in a lot of the promotional material for the upcoming season. The story is going to take place outside of the park and things are going to get brutal, at least from the looks of the trailers releases thus far.
In the hidden trailers released by Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, we've seen an action-packed version, a dialogue-heavy version, and then a romantic sitcom version. All of the footage is made up from the lengthy original trailer, with new shots peppered in. Already, hardcore Westworld fans are trying to figure out what is going on, even though many of them will still have no idea when the credits of the final episode roll. There's a lot to unpack in the show and there's not a lot of explaining going on at the same time, so fans are left to turn to each other for help, along with speculation and theories.
Westworld season 3 will premiere March 15th, exclusively on HBO. In addition to the returning cast members, the show will introduce Aaron Paul, who has already been present in a lot of the promotional material, Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), Lena Waithe (Master of None), Scott Mescudi (HBO's upcoming We Are Who We Are), Marshawn Lynch (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), John Gallagher Jr. (The Newsroom), Michael Ealy (Stumptown), and Tommy Flanagan (Sons of Anarchy). It's going to be very interesting to see where Westworld season 3 ends up with all of these new characters. You can check out the character posters below, thanks to the Westworld Twitter account.