Westworld season 2 confirms key character death

The death that rocked the climax of Westworld season 1 was revealed to be no hoax as the show returned for its new run despite fan theories suggesting otherwise.

HBO's big-budget series ended with a moment which saw Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) gain consciousness and shoot the park creator, Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) in the back of the head before taking out several Delos board members.

In the 15 months that have followed since the finale, fans have been debating whether Ford's death was set in stone with many theorising that Dolores killed a replica of Ford as opposed to the real thing. Towards the end of the season 2 premiere - titled 'Journey Into Night' - viewers are shown Ford's corpse. While this isn't exactly firm proof debunking the theory, it's been pointed out by Vanity Fair that the maggots festering in his wound suggest this is, in fact, the human Ford.

These events are taking place around 11-14 days after the events of season 1's closing moments. But whenever we're shown a deceased host, who has been dead for a similar amount of time to Ford, there are no maggots, no flies, nothing. Their flesh is not human, but Ford's is confirming Hopkins' full-time departure from the show.

Still, there's no knowing if Ford did create a host version of himself. After all, he made one of himself as a kid (who we see in this episode have a fatal run-in with Ed Harris' William after setting him off on a new game) and had secret plans to make more.

In the meantime, it's a sure bet we'll discover more about Ford's past in future episodes.

You can read our review of the season 2 premiere here, as well as an explanation of the confusing twist ending involving Bernard.

Westworld season 2 debuts on HBO in the US and through Sky Atlantic and NOWTV in the UK.