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Westworld season 2: Everything you need to know

Photo credit: HBO
Photo credit: HBO

From Digital Spy

Westworld might have delivered its fair share of jaw-dropping twists, but landing a renewal from HBO back in November wasn't one of the bigger surprises.

The sci-fi western dystopia wowed viewers with its bleak yet beautiful storytelling – and in terms of numbers, it was bigger than even Game of Thrones.

Now all eyes are on showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy as they prepare to take us even deeper inside the maze. Here's everything we know about season two so far.

Related: How to watch Westworld season 2 FREE

Westworld season 2 release date: When's it back?

Photo credit: HBO
Photo credit: HBO

Even the news that Westworld was coming back for more was laden with a subtle twist of its own: the show wouldn't return to our screens till 2018.

"The production is enormously challenging and ambitious, and so is the writing," Nolan said, off the back of the renewal news. "So we said very early on that we wouldn't be able to turn this around every year."

Related: Game of Thrones Season 8 – everything you need to know

Evan Rachel Wood later confirmed that season two would land on HBO in the spring of that year.

This was later reiterated in an Instagram post by Jeffrey Wright - though notably, Wright originally referenced "April" in his post, before a swift edit replaced this with a more vague mention of a "Spring" launch.

Though it's felt like a helluva long wait, it's smart for Nolan, Joy and their team to take their time with the new season. Let's not forget that they had to halt filming midway through production of their first 10 episodes in order to finesse the scripts.

Stubbs actor Luke Hemsworth – yes, the elder brother of Chris and Luke – had suggested that a two-year break between seasons will help avoid something similar happening again.

"They don't want to go in doing what they were doing last time, where they were under the cosh the whole time," he said. "They want to go in with a clear plan – A to Z and everything in between."

Westworld season 2 filming: When do they start shooting?

According to Ed Harris, the formidable Man in Black, ten new episodes of Westworld will begin filming in summer 2017, "probably June or July". We wouldn't dare argue with him.

Harris has similarly suggested that shooting on the "trippy" new season will wrap by the end of the year. "They're committed to having the scripts done to shoot so we're done by Christmas," he explained.

Nolan posted the title page of the season two premiere to Reddit in June, but made certain to obscure the episode's title. Only 'Journey into N...' was visible...

It would appear the full title is 'Journey into Night' - with the title appearing on the official Westworld site as part of a creepy teaser in July.

There have been a few breaks in shooting season 2 - though, this time, it was nothing to do with the scripts.

One of the two filming units working on the new episodes temporarily suspended work in November 2017, following "a medical emergency involving a performer in a recurring role".

An outbreak of wildfires in Southern California led to another brief hiatus in December, though it was quickly ruled that production could resume safely.

Filming had officially wrapped as of late January 2018, with cast and crew marking the end of shooting on social media.