If you tuned in to watch the very first episode of Westworld season 2 on HBO last night, you might have noticed something different about the show's opening credits. In just a short period of time Westworld's creepy intro has become iconic, in part thanks to Ramin Djawadi's eerie musical score, but also because of uncomfortable images it features of the Hosts being made. It really does a good job of reminding you that the Hosts are artificial right before you see them on screen looking very, very human...
In the past, TV intros have pretty much stayed the same from season to season, but in more recent years showrunners have made subtle changes and even used them to send secret messages to audiences. Remember when the Stark sigil was finally seen back over Winterfell in the Game of Thrones season 6 opening credits? Well, it looks like Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are taking a page from the Thrones playbook because the Westworld season 2 opening credits are a little different.
You can watch the new credits above, but if you can't spot the changes - it's a mixture of the first season's intro and new material - don't worry, because I'm here for you. The season 2 opening sequence starts out the same way the first did with the shot of what looks like a rolling landscape, but is actually a Host's body. You won't notice anything different until about 0.23 when instead of seeing the Host horse being made, it's a bison. If you've seen the first episode, you'll know that the bison feature in the premiere, but it's unclear if this is significant.
From there the credits remain fairly similar with the creepy Host skeleton playing the piano (we wouldn't want to lose that now would we?) until about 0.40 when instead of two Hosts having sex we see a Host with its child. Could this imply that Maeve's mission to find her daughter will be a significant storyline in season 2? Other additions to the opening credits include showing how Host hair is made - *shudder* - and then, when the music picks up, we see the bison breaking through a glass wall, which would seem to suggested that season 2's theme of chaos will hold true.
That's not the only interesting thing to note though. While the end of the original Westworld intro showed a variety of images of Hosts, landscapes, and the piano before a form similar to Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man was lowered into the milky white substance the Westworld technicians use to the cover the Host skeleton, the season 2 opening credits opt for something much more intriguing. A hat (we can't tell if it's black or white) is seen falling and is closely followed by the bison, and then when we finally see the shot of the Host skeleton in its circular stand, it's falling under water - along with the hat - and is totally submerged by the time the Westworld logo appears on screen. What does this mean?
Well, again, if you've seen the first episode you'll know that Hosts underwater play a role, but if the opening credits are anything to go by, it could be more significant that we originally thought. Only more episodes will tell.
Westworld season 2 airs Sundays on HBO (available via Dish and Sling TV) at 9pm in the US, and a day later on Sky Atlantic and Now TV in the UK.
If you're a huge opening credits geek then why not check out the evolution of Game of Thrones' title sequence?
