5 Ways [SPOILER] Might Return in ‘Westworld’ Season 4

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Westworld Season 3 episode 8, “Chaos Theory.”]

Sunday’s Season 3 finale of Westworld saw one of the show’s most surprising twists yet—and on a show all about the ways in which robots live, then die, then live again, it seems this death might actually be permanent. Or will it?

In “Chaos Theory,” Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) seemingly gave her life for the revolution, sacrificing all of her memories to destroy the AI system Rehoboam and give humans free will. To hear Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy tell it, the version of Dolores we’ve been following since Season 1 is gone. Never to return. But will she stay that way? Seriously, it’s a bummer to think about Evan Rachel Wood leaving the show.

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Here are five ways we could see the rancher’s daughter and original host—or some version of her—returning in future seasons of the HBO drama, which has already been renewed for Season 4.

Flashback Scenes

If Nolan and Joy are being totally straightforward in these season postmortem interviews, it’s unlikely we’ll see Dolores as we knew her, at least in the real world. But there are plenty of worlds on Westworld that aren’t real—and if you can’t tell, does it matter?

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The Dolores we know and love could easily return in flashback scenes. Since she’s the oldest host in the park, if we’re ever to explore more of Westworld’s history, she’d certainly be part of it.

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Hallucinations (Probably Bernard’s)

Us Westworld fans should really thank Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) for his confusion over when “now” was, since it ultimately gave us back park founder Ford (Anthony Hopkins), even if only for a little while. It’s not totally improbable that Bernard might experience something similar again, this time, with Dolores.

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After all, the two of them were deeply connected, so if anyone’s going to have visions of the host in the blue dress, it’s probably him. But hey, who knows what’ll happen if Caleb (Aaron Paul) ends up taking genre again? Or if William’s (Ed Harris) mental health takes another hit? Did William even survive the post-credits scene?

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She Could Be Rebuilt

One of the key themes of Westworld has been that you live as long as the last person who remembers you, and there are plenty of hosts who remember Dolores still. As stated above, one such host is Bernard; but there’s also Maeve (Thandie Newton), although she doesn’t know her quite as well.

But since hosts have perfect memories, Bernard and/or Maeve could rebuild Dolores in the future. Does that cheapen her sacrifice? Maybe a little, and she still wouldn’t be the exact same Dolores. There are some memories borne of her latest adventures that her pals couldn’t replicate. But she’d at least be a version of the original.

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However, the same issue exists here as it did above. This hypothetical new Dolores wouldn’t have all of her memories and emotions—she wouldn’t remember Caleb, and she would, to some extent, already have been shaped by whatever her experiences were in the real world. There would be some overlap, but it’d be like restoring from an old backup.

Dolores in the Sublime

This one’s far-fetched, we admit, but it’s a nice thought. If we ever end up seeing hosts in the sublime again, like fan-favorites like Akecheta (Zahn McClarnon) and Teddy (James Marsden), might we also see Dolores there, too? That would’ve required her to upload a version of herself to the sublime prior to all of her memories being deleted.

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And yet, if anyone could’ve predicted that outcome and taken steps to ensure her security in spite of it, it’s Dolores. Plus, it’s at least a sweet thought to consider she and Teddy might’ve gotten their happily ever after, after all.