Who is Evan Rachel Wood’s character Christina in Westworld season 4?

Evan Rachel Wood’s Westworld season 4 character is looking a little different. Here’s everything we know about her character Christina.

The anticipated fourth season of science-fiction dystopian drama Westworld has arrived (and ended - delivering a dramatic Westworld season 4 ending (opens in new tab).) Following a 2 year wait for season 4, it picked up 7 years after the conclusion of season 3. Fans were treated to a complex narrative with a more condensed, streamlined cast, plus plenty of thrills - as the hosts unveiled a master plan to enslave humanity. However Evan Rachel Wood's return to the show had some fans with questions about her new character, Christina.

For more dystopian action, check out Prime Video's Paper Girls (opens in new tab) or Netflix hit The Sandman based on the comic book (opens in new tab) series by Neil Gaiman, which was filmed predominantly in the UK (opens in new tab).

Who is Evan Rachel Wood’s character Christina in Westworld season 4? 

Christina is a writer working for a company called Olympiad Entertainment. Her 9 - 5 job involves writing narratives for non playable video game characters. She lives with flatmate Maya (played by Ariana DeBose), whose bubbly personality is a stark contrast to Christina’s introverted one. Christina needs plenty of encouragement to attend social events, and shys away from men and the dating scene. 

Physically, she is identical to Evan Rachel Wood’s previous character of Dolores, with the exception that Dolores’ hair was blonde, and Christina’s is red. She appears to enjoy a monotonous routine, with fans drawing comparisons to the monotony of Dolores’ life in her loop, where she constantly lives through the same narrative before dying and beginning again.

Posting on Twitter (opens in new tab), one fan discussed Christina’s job and how it relates to Dolores, writing “Christina likes to write non-playable characters cause she doesn't do it for the people playing them, she's writing for herself because Dolores all her life had been an NPC in the park just interacting and moving forward the guest's stories, never getting her own”.

What happened to Evan Rachel Wood’s former character Dolores? 

Dolores has been killed off for good. During the season 3 finale, series antagonist Serac is on the hunt for Dolores. Chasing her for the entire season, he believed she held an integral key regarding Delos data relating to the Sublime - the virtual world where hosts can live freely away from humans - locked inside her mind. 

Thandiwe Newton’s character Maeve is hired by Serac to track down Dolores and deliver her to him, where he prepared to extract the information from her mind. 

When Dolores is captured, Serac hooks her up to Rehoboam, an advanced AI imposing an order to human affairs by manipulating the future by analysing data collected by Incite. Serac then erases Dolores’ memories one by one, attempting to find the one containing the key. 

Reaching her final memory, he realises his mistake, and the key is not in Dolores’ mind. In deleting her final memory, Dolores is rendered effectively dead. Although she has duplicates - namely Charlotte - these can never be the real Dolores, and she is gone permanently.

Could Christina be Dolores? 

Show writers have confirmed that Dolores is dead, and Christina is a different character. Speaking to Deadline, series co-creator Lisa Joy said “Dolores is absolutely dead, her sacrifice was meaningful in that it helped get the world to this place, but it was a sacrifice in that there is no more Dolores”. 

When questioned regarding the two being physically identical, Joy’s tongue-in-cheek response was “I wanted a really great actor to play this girl, Christina, and I’m hoping people don’t notice because I changed her hair colour, but we just cast Evan again. I’m thinking the hair colour is going to fool them. They probably won’t recognize her”.

Fans remain unconvinced, with conspiracy theories appearing in abundance. According to IGN, Christina could be living in a mirror world where Olympiad create video games in the way Delos create video game experiences designed to be experienced as real life. 

Fans also took to Twitter to point out that Dolores’ character was inspired by a painting called ‘Christina’s World’. One fan wrote “the character of Dolores Abernathy was in part inspired by the painting “Christina’s World” by Andrew Wyeth (1948). You can clearly tell when reading the interpretation of the work and notice the visual nods. also realise Wyatt comes from Wyeth”.

There is also the mystery of Peter Myers, who confronts Christina about her stories. Although Christina doesn’t know him, he demands that she changes his story. He takes his own life, having claimed earlier that she'd predicted this when writing his story. Christina is baffled by him and his claims. 

Fans feel this presents a direct link to Christina writing real narratives for real people, not for video game characters, in the same way narratives were written for her as Dolores. Sharing a picture of Christina to Twitter (opens in new tab), one user discussed a theory that season 4’s ‘The Tower’ produces silent signals that control the hosts, meaning Christina is Dolores in another simulated universe. 

Who are the Westworld season 4 cast members? 

• Evan Rachel Wood as Christina 
• Thandiwe Newton as Maeve Millay 
• Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe 
• Tessa Thompson as Dolores Abernathy 
• Aaron Paul as Caleb Nichols
• James Marsden as Theodore "Teddy" Flood
• Angela Sarafyan as Clementine Pennyfeather 
• Ed Harris as William/The Man in Black 
• Luke Hemsworth as Ashley Stubbs  
• Ariana DeBose as Maya 

Speaking to Vanity Fair (opens in new tab) about returning to the show and leaving Dolores behind, Wood said “it is bittersweet in a way to think, Oh, okay, well, this character that I’ve been building is dying. But there is something exciting about getting to rebuild somebody new. And that’s what the show does every season—it’s always new”.

On the similarities and differences between Christina and Dolores, she said “Christina is more unsure of herself, and she loves poetry and romance and she wants adventure. She’s like Dolores in the way that she longs for something more than what the world is offering her, and she also has this horrible, unsettling feeling that something is actually wrong in her world”.

What is the Westworld season 4 release date in the UK? 

Westworld season 4, episode 1 aired in the UK on June 27, 2022. Not available to binge altogether, episodes will be airing weekly on Monday nights for British audiences. 

Season 1 received a positive critical response, but seasons 2 and 3 failed to gain the same traction. However, it appears that the show is back on track, with a very positive reception to season 4 so far.

iNews (opens in new tab) critics offered 4 out of 5 stars, saying that the show is “the weirdest, silliest and smartest show on TV”. Alluding to its rocky previous seasons, Forbes (opens in new tab) said of the series so far that “in its first two episodes is actually kind of, shockingly…great?”

One fan offered their views on social media, writing “I haven’t stopped thinking about this. To me, #Westworld has always been a step ahead and eerily prescient. Season 4 started out this way. There is a depth to this show that is underrated, in my opinion. I find it to be quite profound”.

Another fan praised the performances (opens in new tab) of Thandiwe Newton and Aaron Paul, expressing disappointment at not being able to watch all episodes at the same time. They called the show and season 4 performances a “real treat”. 

Where can I watch Westworld season 4? 

Weekly episodes can be viewed in the UK on Sky Atlantic, available through NOW TV. A flexible way to view Sky Atlantic is a Now TV (opens in new tab) Entertainment Pass, which can be purchased for £9.99 a month. Another method is through Sky TV (opens in new tab) itself, where it can be purchased as part of their Sky Signature TV packages.

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