You can now watch the 'beginning' of Westworld season 2 (and it gets very, very weird)

What even is Westworld season 2? Showrunner Jonathan Nolan is already an expert at pulling the rug out from underneath us is but this… this is on a completely different scale. He promised Reddit he’d spoil the whole of the season for those who wanted to see it and what we got was, well, watch it for yourself to find out.

Does it look like anything to you? The 25-minute clip (don’t let the length put you off, trust me) begins with what may or may not be the season 2 opening. But, with this being Westworld, when can we really take things at face value?

Bernard wakes up on a beach. There he’s met by Luke Hemsworth’s character Ashley Stubbs, Westworld’s Head of Security. From that point on, Bernard is taken in by brand-new character Karl Strand, the DELOS Head of Security.

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If this isn’t the beginning of Westworld season 2, they’ve done a bang-up job of hiding it behind some gobbledygook. The signature style is all there: weird metaphors (what is up with those chairs?), a central mystery (why is Bernard on that beach?), and wider lore (DELOS have shown up?). But then it gets weird. And stupid. And Rick Rolls everyone.

Yep. Jonathan Nolan promised to spoil Westworld season 2 and instead we got a possibly-fake, expertly-crafted beginning, plus Dolores singing Never Gonna Give You Up. The icing on the cake is then 20 minutes featuring a dog and a piano, while the Westworld theme plays over the top of it. No, I’m not making this up.

God, this show is brilliant. Who else would think of doing something so patently absurd just to troll fans?

So many thoughts, so many theories. I wonder if they chime with any of our best Westworld theories...

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.