'Westworld' Cast Will Still Be Paid for Season 5 Despite Cancellation

HBO had not officially greenlit Westworld Season 5 before Friday, but it had apparently made some kind of commitment to the main cast. According to a report by Deadline, the main cast of the show will still be paid for another season even though it will not get made. This is thanks to a "pay-or-play" deal in their contracts.

Westworld is loosely based on Michael Crichton's 1973 movie by the same name, but by now it has long exceeded its source material. Season 4 left many loose threads unresolved and creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy indicated that they were hoping to wrap it up with one more season, but sadly on Friday HBO announced that the show was canceled. However, sources close to the production told reporters that the main cast had already negotiated contracts that included their pay for a theoretical Season 5.

Westworld was one of the shows whose production and release schedule was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Season 3 aired in March of 2020 and Season 4 did not come out until June of 2022. Insiders told Deadline that the main cast's options had come up sometime in 2021, and that they may have renegotiated their contracts at that time. The list of "core cast members" at least included Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Ed Harris and Aaron Paul.

The sources pointed out that this wouldn't be all that unusual – especially for a show with such a stacked cast. Networks like HBO reportedly secure their A-list talent before making a renewal decision in some cases like these out of fear that it would be difficult to reassemble the cast later on. The network accepts the risk that this commitment to the cast might not yield any return, as it apparently won't in this case.

The insiders estimated that the main cast were all earning salaries in the range of $10 million to $10 million per season. They noted that the fifth season of Westworld likely would have cost HBO over $80 million in total. HBO reportedly used internal metrics to compare this cost with viewership – specifically, their best estimate of how many subscribers would hang onto the service for Westworld itself. Critics and customers often complain about how uncertain such estimates seem from their perspective.

Westworld has seen a decline in viewership over the years, and many critics have questioned the show's decision to veer away from the theme park setting and into a more general cyberpunk dystopia. Still, those that were following it through Season 4 were heartbroken to hear that the story wouldn't be finished. All four seasons of the series are streaming now on HBO Max.