Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright Offers Hope Ahead of Season Finale

Warning: Spoilers ahead! 

It’s hard to put into words just how complex Westworld is.

The HBO series tackles some really big themes, making viewers question just about every aspect of their lives: Is technology good? Are human beings inherently evil? Must violent delights always have violent ends?

For Jeffrey Wright, these existential questions are a large part of his character Bernard’s story. As he explained in an interview with E! News, the host is one of the few characters who is torn between his beliefs in humanity and technology. “He has this allegiance to both sides of the parks, if you will—to the hosts, but also he has this strange, stubborn allegiance to humans,” he said. “There’s this persistent belief that, despite all this evidence to the contrary, there’s still something at the core [of the human race] that’s beautiful and capable of grace and worth saving.”

This is why, in episode seven, titled “Metanoia,” Bernard runs through all the different possible outcomes to each situation. He wants to know what the best choice is, knowing that whatever happens outside the simulation will have larger ramifications on the society as a whole.