Turns Out Evan Rachel Wood Knew About That Westworld Character’s Return for Years

Spoilers below.

Is anyone ever really dead on Westworld?

When it comes to hosts, no one’s gone for too long, especially after last season’s constant recycling of “pearls” and consciousnesses. But the show seemingly had us fooled when one character died and disappeared for a whole season—surely that meant he was a goner, right? Not quite. The first episode of season 4 proved that despite the years-long wait, Teddy, James Marsden’s beloved cowboy who “died” in season 2, is, in fact, still here.

Teddy’s appearances are brief but intriguing. First, he steps in to save Christina (Evan Rachel Wood’s new character, and perhaps a new iteration of Dolores) when she’s attacked during a walk home at night. She and the audience don’t see his face yet—just that he tackles and punches the assailant. It’s only in the episode’s final seconds that we see Teddy’s face as he steps out from the shadows in the street, looking up at Christina in her apartment. She, however, has no idea he’s there.

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For Westworld co-creator Lisa Joy, bringing back Teddy was a no-brainer. “How can you not want to bring James Marsden back? He’s like garlic salt. It makes everything better. For me, at least, garlic salt makes everything better when I’m cooking,” she tells ELLE.com.

“But I think James, we talked about it actually at the end of third season, how he had to go away and die, but we were excited to work with him again in the future. He knew he was coming back.”

For her part, Wood has known Marsden would return since season 2; she even had to lie to her friends about it.

“I knew he was coming back, but I pretended not to know for, like, two years, three years? Okay. I don’t even know. Four years, maybe, since season two?” she says. “Even in my inner circle when people were like, ‘So wait, is that for real? Is he really gone?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, man, Teddy’s dead. I don’t know. I don’t know if they’re going to bring him back.’ But I did know.”

Adds Joy, “Well, it was great to see him back and to have that chemistry back again.”

Likewise, producer Alison Schapker, who joined Westworld this season, spoke highly of Teddy’s grand return.

“I think everybody loves James. I have since fallen in love with James. He’s just an incredible actor and Teddy, I think, really just adds that bit of heart to this couple that’s doomed to be drawn to each other again and again,” she explains. “But then, obviously, they came together [in the theme park] under such oppressive circumstances, not being able to see the whole picture, and I think that they will meet each other under different circumstances again, and I think that part of the mystery of season four is: Who will they be to one another by the time it’s over?”

Now that Teddy (if that’s even still his name) is back, his path for the rest of the season remains a mystery, though considering where we’ve seen him already, it seems like he’s headed straight for Christina. Here’s what the internet had to say about his comeback.

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Erica Gonzales
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more.

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