With shows like Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, and Band of Brothers, HBO quietly changed the culture. While traditional networks competed heavily for the Sunday slot, the cable network claimed it for themselves and made HBO Sundays a real thing. The 9 pm slot is coveted because that’s when HBO airs new episodes of its biggest shows. The network is always looking for the next big hit to replace shows that are either wrapping up for the season or ending permanently. In 2016, HBO was facing a shift that meant it had to take big swings. One of the most popular HBO shows — and the most popular period — was nearing an end. The series had become increasingly expensive, and the story was reaching its natural conclusion.
That show is Game of Thrones, the hit fantasy series based on George R.R. Martin‘s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series. Game of Thrones was a global phenomenon, and HBO needed another high-concept big-budget show to take over once the show wrapped up. The network picked up Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy‘s sci-fi Western Westworld as its new flagship series. Set in a park with human-like robots, the series explored the rise of artificial intelligence. Westworld was an immediate hit, but it never reached the levels of Game of Thrones. Years later, ratings began to decline, production costs rose, and HBO canceled the series after four seasons, despite the creators having a five-season roadmap.
Soon after, HBO removed the show from HBO Max for financial reasons, leaving fans with a few ways to watch it, including purchasing episodes and seasons on PVOD platforms. Streaming data from FlixPatrol shows that the appetite for Westworld has never waned, as the show is among the most-streamed on iTunes. Ranked second at the time of writing, this surge can be attributed to its creators’ new hit sci-fi Western, Fallout, and the recent news about an upcoming remake of Westworld, but for the big screen.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
‘Westworld’ Is Returning
Nolan and Joy’s version was not the first time the story had been explored. Michael Crichton tackled his own screenplay in a 1973 film adaptation. Now, Warner Bros. is remaking the film, with Jurassic World writer David Koepp attached as the writer. The new movie does not have a director or cast yet. With the film in the early stages of development, plot details have not been revealed, so it’s unclear how events will unfold.
HBO’s Westworld is available for purchase on online stores. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
