‘Westworld’ Season 2 Halts Production Due To California Wildfires

The showrunners of the HBO show “Westworld” are keen to get things going, but acts of nature are forcing the show to slow down and take a breather.

Three separate wildfires have been raging across the southern part of California, therefore prompting “Westworld” Season 2 to take a halt. For the safety of everybody concerned, HBO has decided to suspend production of the series until the fire is under control.

“Due to nearby wildfires, ‘Westworld' stopped production earlier today and will resume filming as soon as it’s safe to do so,” the cable provider said in a statement released to The Hollywood Reporter.

This was not the first hiccup the show encountered. Last month, the show was suspended momentarily after one of its newbies, Zahn McClarnon, suffered from an injury at home. The network did not reveal who the actor was initially, but a rep later confirmed that it was McClarnon, who did not appear in the first season.

“Actor Zahn McClarnon was hospitalized Wednesday night after sustaining an injury at home,” the HBO rep said in a statement to Variety. “He is on the mend and looking forward to getting back to work. ‘Westworld’ will resume filming on both units next week.”

McClarnon reportedly fell and hit his head at home. He was immediately rushed to the ICU of a nearby hospital with brain trauma, but thankfully, he was able to recover.

Hopefully, these setbacks will not delay the release date for Season 2. Ed Harris, who plays the Man in Black, earlier said that their filming schedule has been pretty insane already.

Harris added that they are in better shape compared to when they were filming Season 1, but it appears show creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are keen to get things done quickly since there are several groups filming at different locations on any given day.

“So far, we’ve shot some from episode 1, episode 2, some from episode 4, some from episode 10. They’re committed to having the scripts done to shoot so we’re done by Christmas,” Harris told Collider. “I’m glad that I am not a person who’s trying to schedule the days of filming on this thing, because it’s insane. Sometimes you’ll have two, three different episodes being shot. Different crews, different locations; I don’t know how they get it all done.”

“Westworld” Season 2 premieres on HBO in Spring 2018.