Critical response The
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes reported an 85% approval rating for the second season based on 472 reviews, with an average rating of 7.95/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "
Westworld builds on its experimental first season, diving deeper into the human side of AI without losing any of its stylish, bloody glory."
Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 76 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. {{Television Rotten Tomatoes scores Critics received the first five episodes of the season as
screeners before the first episode premiered. In a positive review for
San Francisco Chronicle,
David Wiegand wrote, "there is plenty of action and violence in the first half of the season, but what will empower the show's longevity is its metaphysical theme, the exploration of the meaning and definition of human existence."
Rob Owen of the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also praised the series, saying, "It takes a bit for
Westworld to get back up to full steam, but by episode three (five hours were made available to TV critics), this futuristic, violent drama returns to fine form, introducing new parts of the park (Shogun World!), new characters and apparently new technology goals on the part of Delos, the corporation that owns Westworld." Journalist
Lorraine Ali of the
Los Angeles Times said, "It's poised to be a intellectually stimulating and emotionally bumpy ride, where the very concept of your existence becomes the stuff of high-brow entertainment and low-bar thrills."
The New York Times TV critic
James Poniewozik quipped, "don't expect too much improvement too fast from
Westworld 2.0. It's still overly focused on balletic blood baths and narrative fake-outs, and much of the dialogue still sounds as if it were written as a tagline for a subway poster, like Dolores's 'I have one last role to play: myself.' But
Westworld remains a glorious production to look at, and there are stretches where it feels invigorated by its new, expanded world—freer to breathe, relax, invent." Ben Travers of
IndieWire wrote, "all around, the actors remain strong, including a number of new cast members. Where season 2 stumbles is its structure and pacing. Episodes don't carve equal time for everyone; they focus on the two most connected stories and sometimes break for an entire hour without getting back to a series regular." After the release of the third episode,
Forbes criticized the season for departing too far from the show's roots and instead trying to be an "action blockbuster", arguing in part that the violence was overdone in comparison to the first season.
Accolades Westworld received six nominations and one win at the
70th Primetime Emmy Awards, nominations included Outstanding Drama Series, Ed Harris and Jeffrey Wright for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Evan Rachel Wood for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and Jimmi Simpson for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Thandiwe Newton won for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. For the
76th Golden Globe Awards, Newton was nominated for
Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.
Ratings ==Notes==