No, really—a literal Rickroll. Westworld showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan set the internet ablaze yesterday with what they described as a radical new plan to fight spoilers, where the entire plot of season two would be revealed on the Westworld subreddit so fans could deputize themselves as online spoiler sheriffs, protecting the innocent from unwanted information while allowing the free exchange of fan theories to continue. They described it as something akin to the situation that (unintentionally on the creators’ part) arose before Game Of Thrones outpaced George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire books, where those who wanted the information could have it while others could remain pure.
That’s ridiculous, right? And unprecedented? And possibly too good to be true? As it turns out, it’s all three. After a number of fans and media outlets—including this one—guzzled their bullshit like a teen doing a reverse keg stand, the promised “spoiler video” hit Reddit. For the first couple of minutes, it seems like Nolan and Joy were serious, as Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) wakes up on a remote beach, unable to remember how he got there. He makes his way back to Westworld, where he spots Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) in Western wear on the street.
It seems like something big is about to happen, and then the video just—stops. Wood re-emerges dressed in contemporary garb, and the familiar strains of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” start on piano. Wood sings a soulful, near-a cappella version of the infamous internet pranking classic, and from there on out it’s just 22 minutes of a dog sitting in front of a piano in black and white. Kudos to Nolan and Joy for doing this the week after April Fools’ so we’d all fall for it, though.