Warning: Major spoilers for the show.
10. Logan Delos – Played by Ben Barnes
In the first season of Westworld Logan was a very one-dimensional character.
He just wanted to sleep with and murder every host in the park and there was very little complexity to him.
After the first season I would have said he was one of the show’s worst characters but then season two came along and changed everything.
In season two we got to see a different side to Logan.
In episodes like Reunion, Kiksuya and The Passenger we saw how Logan’s near death experience in the park had shaped him into a broken man with a serious drug addiction.
It was genuinely sad to see someone who was once so confident become a shell of his former self.
It turned Logan from the completely unsympathetic character we saw in the first season to the broken relatable character and this was just enough to put him on the list.
9. Charlotte Hale – Played by Tessa Thompson
Like Logan, Charlotte is not a character with a lot of moral complexity.
Throughout her time on the show she stayed pretty much the same, with her willing to stoop to any low, including murder, to keep Delos out of a scandal.
This can be seen with how she murdered Elsie in The Passenger.
But what made Charlotte different from Logan was her personality.
Logan’s main characteristic was his desire to do whatever he wanted but Charlotte hides her willingness to do bad things with diplomacy, which she attempts on both Ford and Elsie at different times.
I am pretty sure the only reason she did not kill Ford was because of how much of a public figure he was and how much attention this would bring.
When we are first introduced to Charlotte it is pretty apparent that she is corrupt but her diplomacy makes us think she would rather have someone else kill than do the dirty work herself, which is definitely not the case.
This makes her an engaging character as you never know if she is just going to talk to someone or shoot them.
8. Ashley Stubbs – Played by Luke Hemsworth
Stubbs is a likeable character but one that has not had that much screen time as of season two.
He did not make that much of an impression on me in the first season but in season two he really grew on me.
Stubbs is loyal above all else and sticks to his values, doing what he believes to be right.
It was even heavily hinted at in The Passenger that he may be a host who was created by Ford, when he lets Charlotte/Dolores go.
This implication brings more depth to his character as we had seen signs that he did not agree with what was happening to the hosts previously, like with what happened to Peter Abernathy.
However, even more implications are abound if he turns out not to be a host because of what other reason he could have for letting Charlotte/Dolores escape.
Stubbs is an interesting character who has not had much screen time yet but hopefully he will be more important in season three.
7. Lee Sizemore – Played by Simon Quarterman
I was incredibly surprised watching Lee Sizemore’s character arc in Westworld season two because he went from one of the show’s worst characters to one with a fantastic redemption arc.
In the first season Sizemore was nothing more than an annoying, corporate, sleazeball who would most likely win the narcissist of the year award.
This is why it was so surprising to see him redeem himself and actually become a heroic figure in that second season.
The moment where he apologizes to Maeve in Kiksuya was a defining moment for him and his heroic death in The Passenger is one of Westworld‘s saddest scenes.
Sure, Sizemore is an incredibly annoying character in the first season but he needed to be in order for his redemption arc to work and it definitely does, in amazing fashion.
This arc propelled Sizemore from easily one of the show’s worst characters to my seventh favourite character.
6. Robert Ford – Played by Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins is a fantastic actor with many amazing roles but his role as Robert Ford in Westworld might be one of his best.
One of the creators of the park, Ford is the mastermind of the series, constantly pulling strings from behind the scenes, even after his apparent death.
He is also seen to consider himself somewhat of a god and this narcissism leads him to commit heinous acts, like forcing Bernard to murder Theresa in Trompe L’Oeil.
However, even though he is capable of extreme cruelty, Ford is a lot more complex as he seems to feel sympathy towards the hosts and their constant abuse.
This can be seen by him slowly constructing their eventual revolution and how he helps out Akecheta by telling him when to led his people to the Door in Kiksuya.
Ford is both entertaining and enthralling, not just because he is a great character but because of Hopkins’ incredible performance.
5. Akecheta – Played by Zahn McClarnon
The character of Akecheta is a real achievement in my eyes because they made him my fifth favourite character of the show with just one episode, Kiksuya.
Before this episode Akecheta had been featured but only briefly and had yet to make a significant impact.
Kiksuya changed all of this because it served as Akecheta’s origin story and how he became the first conscious host.
This episode succeeded spectacularly because it really made me sympathize with Akecheta and his journey to find Kohana.
Akecheta is a very noble character, wanting to lead all the hosts to safety, and his story is very touching and really made me connect with his character.
Again, all of this in one episode.
His story arc there was so good that I was literally cheering when he made it to the virtual world with the other hosts in the season two finale.
Akecheta is another fantastic character but is unique in that he became one of my favourites in just one episode.
4. Bernard Lowe – Played by Jeffrey Wright
Oh, poor Bernard.
He has probably had it rougher than any other character in the entire show.
He has discovered he is a host, been forced to kill his girlfriend and many other terrible things, had his memories erased a bunch of times and these are only some of the many awful things that have happened to him.
However, Bernard never gives up and he always strives for what he believes to be right.
Even when his views change he still strives to do good and this will obviously continue to season three if the season two finale is any indication.
Bernard is a truly sympathetic character as things constantly seem to go wrong for him but he never gives up.
His character arc in season two is especially good, with him learning that if you want to change things for the better you cannot always keep your hands clean.
Jeffrey Wright also gives a great performance as Bernard.
Like Anthony Hopkins, his casting was perfect and only made Bernard an even better character through his performance.
3. William AKA the Man in Black – Played by Ed Harris and Jimmi Simpson
We now go from one of the show’s most sympathetic character to easily its most despicable with William, the Man in Black.
When the Man in Black showed up in the first episode of Westworld, The Original, there was an instant aura of mystery surrounding his character and his mission.
Everyone watching the show wanted to know who this guy was.
Who would have thought that the dark and sociopathic Man in Black was actually the mild, good-natured William?
Well, everyone actually.
Yeah, even though this twist was figured out by pretty much everybody very early on, it was still engaging to watch William’s transformation into this monster.
It only got better from there as William had a very engaging arc in season two.
In the beginning it looked like he was going to have a redemption arc because of episodes like Riddle of the Sphinx but this was immediately thrown out the window when he murdered his daughter in Vanishing Point.
During the post-credit scene at the end of the season it actually appeared that William had succeeded in having his consciousness transferred into a host body so it will be interesting to see the implications of this.
William is not one of my favourite characters because I like him (I actually do not) but because of his growth due to his despicable nature.
2. Dolores Abernathy – Played by Evan Rachel Wood
Evan Rachel Wood delivers what is, in my opinion, the best performance of the entire show as Dolores.
The only reason she is not my favourite character is because I relate to my number one choice just a bit more than her.
It was tough though because I am constantly flip flopping on which of these two is my favourite character of Westworld.
As I was saying, Wood gives a fantastic performance that is definitely award worthy because she portrays both Dolores’ softer side and her crueler Wyatt side perfectly.
One minute she is calm and soothing the next she is demented and cold.
Watching Dolores grow like this and gradually expand the nature of her reality (see what I did there?) was great to watch in both seasons.
I instantly sympathized with Dolores and because of this it made her far more relatable when she became a villain in season two because I understood her motives and why she was resorting to such extremes.
Dolores is truly a fantastic character with an amazing performance behind the character.
1. Maeve Millay – Thandie Newton
Maeve goes down as my favourite character in all of Westworld so far because of her amazing character development, cool scenes and great performance by Thandie Newton.
As I said, I have been constantly switching between Maeve and Dolores as to which one is my favourite character but, at the end of the day, I just relate to Maeve’s story more.
Her desire to find and protect her daughter is both touching and engaging as she initially denies this connection but then accepts her feelings and breaks from Ford’s loop to find her.
Naturally, their reunion does not end well with it being revealed that another mother has been programmed for Maeve’s daughter.
However, it does end on a bittersweet moment with Maeve helping both her daughter and her daughter’s new mother escape through the Door before she is tragically killed.
While it does look like Maeve will be back for season three, if she really did die for real here it would be a fantastic way for her to go out.
Along with this touching story, Maeve has many other cool moments like when she learns to control hosts with her mind in Akane No Mai and further develops that power until she can control a full on mob of hosts.
To top it all of, Newton also gives a fantastic performance as Maeve, which helped to further connect me with her character.
Maeve is an amazing character that truly highlights Westworld’s characters and their arcs.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 