Luke Hemsworth has admitted that the cancellation of HBO show Westworld is “disappointing”.
The network announced last week (11 November) that it would be cancelling the show after six years and four seasons.
It appears the cancellation was due to a steady decline in viewing figures since the third series, which couldn’t justify the high production costs.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the viewing figures had dropped from 12 million per episode to around four million since the first series launched.
Hemsworth, who played Ashley Stubbs on the show, spoke with Entertainment Tonight at the premiere for his brother Chris Hemsworth’s new show Limitless.
“You hope these things go forever, but everyone’s got their own reasons,” he said.
“I’m very thankful for my part in that series, and that journey was a big part of my life. But yeah, it was disappointing.”
According to Hemsworth, the “disappointing” news came in on his 42nd birthday.
“I was like, ‘F***! Dammit!’” he said. “I think the idea right from the start was to go full circle and come back to be about loops, to be about human beings and robots being stuck in that trajectory.”
“Unfortunately, we get cut off, but it’s the nature of the world. You can’t get depressed about it. You move on, and it opens up new doors,” he continued diplomatically.
The show, made by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, was said to have been expensive to produce. In 2016, the show’s executive producer JJ Abrams told The Hollywood Reporter that the production value was “preposterous”.
The first series of Westworld was said to cost around $100m.
