Teddy’s returned. The adored character turned tragic killer, who passed away in Season 2, made his triumphant return in a romantic twist at the conclusion of the episode in the season 4 premiere of Westworld. He was played, as always, by James Marsden.
After going on a stressful date, seeing a suicide, and discovering a startling souvenir left by a home intruder, Christina, the new character played by Evan Rachel Wood, who previously played Dolores, steps out onto her balcony. In her capacity as a writer for Olympiad Entertainment, she is formulating a concept. She mumbles, “The new script is about a girl who’s searching. The girl is still unsure of her search objective. She simply understands that nothing makes sense and that her existence is empty. I want a story with a happy ending, Christina says with absolute certainty.
Immediately after she finishes speaking, the camera pans to reveal a man observing her from the sidewalk while he is concealed by the trees and the streetlights. Teddy is there, looking graciously up at her as the score increases. (It’s a string cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games,” a choice so obvious that it’s comical before it becomes moving.)
The episode, a stylish, enjoyable slow-burn that takes place seven years after the events of season 3, finishes on that suspenseful cliffhanger without actually addressing the topic of Teddy’s reappearance. Although the premiere dispelled rumors that Teddy was the mysterious man Christina was spotted hanging out with in an early season 4 teaser, it was simply some jerk Christina’s upbeat roommate, Ariana DeBose, fixed her up with as a ruse to get Christina more sociable. Additionally, although though Teddy is only actually seen towards the episode’s conclusion, there is a brief scene earlier in the premiere where it appears that he is going to make a comeback. A troubled man named Peter had been following Christina during the entire episode (Aaron Stanford). He strikes her after following her home one night about three-quarters into the show. She initially manages to hold him off until being saved by and having Peter beaten up by an unknown man. However, both men vanish before Christina can get a good look at him. Teddy may or may not have been the subject, although that has never been established.
Teddy’s reappearance was a strong possibility at any time in the series, given that Dolores uploaded Teddy’s pearl (also known as the mechanical brain) to the Valley Beyond. Outside of the bounds of show logic, Marsden’s unexpected participation at the Westworld panel at the ATX Festival in June served as further confirmation of Teddy’s comeback. He shared only general details about what will occur in season 4 of the popular sci-fi series rather than providing much insight into what his character would be doing.
According to Entertainment Weekly, he stated that “the themes of investigating human drives of violence and stuff like that are going to continue.” And perhaps this season, we’ll investigate what the world would look like if Dolores had freed the humans and the robots. Will they work together or will they fight for power? What transpires when they compete for dominance? Will these violent urges be passed along to the hosts? We ask a lot of questions about some of the fundamental concepts that we continue to explore on this program, especially in season 4. What occurs next?
What will Teddy do next, then? Dolores had pre-programmed him to become a murderer for the host rebellion when we last saw him in season 2. Teddy eventually lost his patience and killed himself to end the abuse. In season 3, he doesn’t make any appearances. He is tenderly reintroduced in the season 4 premiere, providing a clue that he and Christina may meet sooner than we anticipate.