Entertainment

'Westworld' Season 3 Trailer Easter Eggs May Reveal a Huge New Spoiler

Is Aaron Paul's character *actually*  living in the real world?

Just in time to fill the Game of Thrones-sized hole in our hearts, the first trailer for Westworld Season 3 has arrived. The show won’t debut until 2020, and the trailer mostly keeps things vague, introducing Aaron Paul’s new character and a few others. But there’s one big Easter egg in the Westworld Season 3 trailer that may just turn out to be a huge spoiler.

Speculative spoilers for Westworld Season 3 ahead.

The Westworld Season 3 trailer offers a jawdropping look at the real world that exists outside the show’s titular park in the not-too-distant future. It’s focused on Paul as a young man slouching through a slightly dystopian city. By day, he’s a worker drone, but at night, he’s a criminal working with Lena Waithe and Marshawn Lynch (yes, that Marshawn Lynch). At one point he also visits another friend, played by Kid Cudi, who’s currently in jail, likely for similar crimes.

However, the big twist comes at the very end of the trailer when Paul’s character encounters Dolores, the robotic Host and protagonist of Westworld Seasons 1 and 2. Actually, it’s unclear if this is really Dolores, who’s consciousness was transferred into a Host version of Charlotte (Tessa Thompson). So we don’t know who’s brain is in that body, but it’s definitely Evan Rachel Wood — yes, this is all super confusing, welcome back to Westworld, we love it here.

However, a closer look at that final moment reveals something unexpected. The Westworld Season 3 trailer includes a clear reference to the infamous Maze that guided so much of the story from the past two seasons. Here’s the Easter Egg in question (via redditor u/Gaultier55):

The return of the maze

HBO

The Maze, you may recall, was a puzzle hidden within Westworld by the park’s creator and meant for the Hosts. It allowed the Hosts to achieve consciousness. That’s what happened to Dolores at the end of Season 1, giving her the ability to lead a robot rebellion in Season 2. (Sidenote: I know that was a super-truncated recap. If you want a full plot summary, read Wikipedia.)

The Maze

HBO

So what does it mean that the Maze is showing up in the “real world” in Westworld Season 3. Well, there are a few different options. The best, and most exciting, is that this world is actually just another park. In that scenario, Paul’s character could be a Host himself, or a technician working on the other hosts in “Future World” or whatever they call it.

Alternatively, maybe this actually is the real world but it’s already been infiltrated by Hosts, which would explain the Maze graffiti. Or maybe it’s just a fun Easter egg, though on a show like Westworld where every clue counts, that’s probably the most unlikely option of them all.

Westworld Season 3 premieres in 2020.