HBO Halts Production of Major Series After Positive COVID-19 Test

Westworld is the latest television show to shut down production due to a positive COVID-19 test. The HBO show’s fourth season of the sci-fi Western drama put a halt to production after recording a positive test from a production member and will pause briefly for two days next week, Deadline reported Wednesday.

The series, which stars Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton, Aaron Paul, Jimmi Simpson, Katja Herbers, Ed Harris, Tessa Thompson, Luke Hemsworth, Simon Quarterman, Rodrigo Santoro and Aurora Perrineau, is just the latest Hollywood production to be delayed due to the pandemic. American Horror Story had to pause Season 10 due to a positive test, as did House of the Dragon and Bridgerton while filming over in the UK.

Season 4 of Westworld will see Harris’ William (a.k.a. the Man in Black) after being killed and replaced by a host controlled by Halores on a plot to destroy humanity. Showrunner Jonathan Nolan hinted at what’s next for the show in a roundtable discussion online courtesy of the Paley Center for Media, saying, “I’m a big believer in being guided by irony. [William] winds up becoming this thing [a host] that he’s controlled for so long. And on a visceral level, I just can’t wait to watch Ed kill everyone.” Harris added, “I was happy to get back in my black suit. I have no idea what they have planned for me. I’m teamed with Tessa, I know. Hopefully, we can do some rightful damage.”

Wood shared with Collider that every season of the show was a “reinvention” of the whole series, complete with tearing down and reconstructing the sets after every season. “It’s bittersweet because you get to know these characters really well and you like them how they are and you have to kind of start over every season, and I think that’s what keeps it interesting,” she explained. “What’s Season 4 gonna be? Even I don’t know!”

On finding a new groove for her own character, Wood added, “It’s felt like that every season a bit. Season 3 for sure because that was just shooting a completely different show, but luckily it’s still the same people every year, the same crew that’s been with us since the beginning. We’ve been doing it for so long it very much is like a family.”