The following contains spoilers for Westworld Season 4, Episode 1, “The Auguries,” currently streaming on HBO Max.
Westworld Season 3 finale, “Crisis Theory,” had left viewers in complete chaos as Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul’s Caleb erased the machine Rehoboam and returned free will to the people. Unlike the apocalypse Rehoboam has predicted, the event didn’t end in annihilation. Eight years later, peace has returned and order was restored, but so was something else.
Westworld Season 4 premiere “The Auguries” saw a surprising combination of familiar faces. The Season 3 finale had seen Dolores killed off through the erasure of her memories. That finale even provided a last emotional moment for the character, looking back at her life in Westworld while passing the torch to Thandiwe Newton’s Maeve Millay.
Caleb erased Rehoboam’s system and with it any traces of Dolores’ memories. It seemed clear that there was very little room left for Evan Rachel Wood’s first robot to make a comeback in the new season, except she did. Evan Rachel Wood reprised her role as Dolores Abernathy in the Westworld Season 4 premiere, but it seemed she was under a new identity in another game.
Eight years later, Dolores, now known as Christina, is a writer in the gaming industry, but there is more going on than what met the eyes. While her boss keeps motivating her to write violent, adrenaline-driven stories, Christina feels drawn to a particularly familiar setting of her old self as the rancher’s daughter in Westworld. Not only did Season 4 confirm that Dolores survived, but it also hinted that her memories still exist somewhere in her mind.
Chistina seemingly took a job similar to Lee Sizemore’s position as the Head of Narrative in Westworld, but she wasn’t creating identities for the host. Her long-time stalker Peter tried to convince her that the stories she wrote affected real-life people, but Christina wasn’t buying it. This lead to the moment in the Season 4 premiere where Peter jumps off a building while on the phone with Christina, asking if she had written the part too, indicating that Westworld had moved to the real world.
As a robot, Dolores exists as long as her data exists. With Bernard dying and Rebohoam erased, it’s hard to imagine how Dolores survived with her core identity not altered. With Westworld moving into the new world, however, it seems the Season 4 premiere hints at a new antagonist and a new game that is, again, many levels higher than William’s. On the other hand, William has continued his quest to take control and see what’s beyond the obvious, with Jeffrey Wright promising an upgrade for the series’ fourth season, so the endgame for this season, and this show, is still anybody’s guess.
A new episode of Westworld Season 4 will become available every Sunday at 9pm ET via HBO Max. Westworld Season 1-3 are available to stream on HBO Max.