Westworld's Jonathan Nolan on building the present-based future of S3 in exclusive Blu-ray clip

Season 3 of HBO's Westworld is subtitled "The New World," and as is usually the case with this show, that name carries multiple meanings. It signifies characters emerging from a world they once thought was real and entering the actual real world; an awakening for human characters who are realizing the "real" world around them isn't what it seems; and even the promise of what the future holds as powerful corporate entities struggle to make their competing visions for humankind into reality. But of course, it also means the team behind the series got to build an entirely new environment for their characters as the show stepped outside the park, and in this exclusive look at the upcoming Blu-ray release, SYFY WIRE got a glimpse into the philosophy behind it all. 

Westworld has always been futuristic, but in the first two seasons the action was almost exclusively confined to the title park and its offshoots — with all the period details therein — or to the behind-the-scenes Delos facilities that made the parks operate. For Season 3, the production team had to not only craft compelling arcs for the characters who'd ventured outside the park, but craft the futuristic world around them and explore its many implications, from a surveillance state to a gig economy-based app built around crime. In the clip below, co-creator Jonathan Nolan explains why the show didn't want to just follow in the footsteps of Blade Runner (like so many other genre projects have), as well as the approach they ultimately decided on.

"The reality is dystopias don't look like dystopias," Nolan said. "So what we wanted to do is try to imagine: 'What happens if the world proceeds in a straight line from where we are right now? What if 30 more years elapse, exactly the trajectory we're on right now — technological development, an ever-widening chasm between the haves and the have nots — all of the trends that we're watching right now, if we carry them not to their extreme necessarily, but carry them forward three decades? What does that world look like?'"

The result is what we saw onscreen throughout Season 3, a future in which humanity is trying to save itself from itself through often dystopic and terrifying means, all of which make for very compelling storytelling. 

The Westworld: The New World home release will arrive Nov. 17 in a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-Ray, and DVD formats featuring nearly two hours of bonus content, including brand-new featurettes exclusive to the 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack release that focus on the creation of the show's future, the development of the "Rico" app within the show, and the Technocratic ideas present in the story of The New World. The entire season will also be available to purchase through various digital providers.