SPOILER WARNING for anyone who hasn't yet watched Westworld's latest Season 3 episode.
Just two episodes into Westworld's third season, the showrunners have already blown fans' minds with the most awesomely blatant easter egg references to HBO's hallmark series Game of Thrones. The icing on the cake, however, was a possible nod to another super-popular sci-fi story created by Westworld visionary Michael Crichton: Jurassic Park. We assume we're not going to see any dinosaurs in the near future, but it seems like nothing is off the table in this universe.
Game Of Thrones Cameos
It feels like eons ago when news dropped that Game of Thrones' TV creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were going to make appearances in Westworld Season 3. Obviously nobody knew how those cameos would happen at the time, but Sunday's episode revealed all, and it turns out the invite wasn't just limited to humans.
In the episode, Bernard and Stubbs were walking the hallways of Delos' many behind-the-scenes labs on a floor where elements from the presumed Medievalworld were being worked on. (More on that below.) At one point, they passed a room that contained not just David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' techs (brilliantly named Dave and Dan), but also a very familiar-looking dragon. That's right, Game of Thrones' big bosses actually got Daenerys' main dragon Drogon into Westworld, even if they never referred to it by that name.
Here's how Westworld's co-showrunner Lisa Joy explained it in a video HBO released after the episode aired.
People have often joked about Westworld and Game of Thrones crossovers; George R.R. Martin likes to joke about that. And so we thought we'd kind of indulge in that for a moment. And who better to bring to the park than Dan and Dave. And they let us borrow their dragon, so they were really good sports for the scene. [Laughs.]
The Medievalworld sequence also featured an oddball moment with a musician Host directly playing Westworld's theme song, making me think that HBO now stands for Home Box Ouroboros.
Jurassic Park Connections
While the Game of Thrones references were wonderfully cheeky to watch, that scene's dialogue almost definitely featured a direct nod to Jurassic Park. In fact, the entire concept of Medievalworld speaks to the larger metatextual web that Westworld's showrunners wove with Michael Crichton references.
To lay it out there, here's what D.B. Weiss' character said in the scene about the dragon Host (before implying that he was about to cut the beast up into shipment-sized parts).
I've got a buyer. It's with some startup in Costa Rica.
Even if he'd just mentioned "some Central American island" without namechecking Costa Rica, it still would have been an obvious reference to the company at the heart of Jurassic Park: International Genetic Technologies, Inc. Or, more simply, InGen. Sure, the company was founded in the 1980s in the novel, but Westworld's futuristic setting and technology make the idea of a Jurassic Park attraction all the more realistic. Hell, Delos could probably sublet an island somewhere for InGen to use and redub as Isla Nubar.
Making the Jurassic Park inclusion feel all the more realistic is the fact that Medievalworld itself is a reference to the film Futureworld, the cinematic sequel to Michael Crichton's original Westworld film. Granted, Crichton didn't have anything to do with the creation of Futureworld, but it's still a homage to the overarching universe the author created. (And done in a way that obviously allowed them to easily work Game of Thrones into the mix.)
While I don't have any concrete faith that Westworld will ever seriously adapt elements of Jurassic Park in future episodes, I would enjoy the shit out of it, especially if Drogon was there to make sure the dinosaurs stayed in their lane. It might also inspire fans to hit up HBO to turn Jurassic Park into a high-quality TV series on par with Westworld and Game of Thrones, obviously with Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern returning. Or if nothing else, maybe a reference to Westworld in the upcoming dragon-friendly Game of Thrones prequel series.
What did everybody think of Westworld's universe-connecting easter eggs in Episode 2? Let us know in the comments, and keep watching Westworld every Sunday night on HBO at 9:00 p.m. ET. And don't forget to check out our weekly questions feature for Episode 2, as well as for Episode 1.
