Who Is Peter Abernathy? ‘Westworld’ Season 2 Character Explained
He's kind of a big deal.
Fans of HBO’s Westworld tuned in to watch the Season 2 premiere on Sunday. As the case with the show, many finished the episode with plenty of questions about the story. One character, however, was not shown, and he’s arguably one of the most important characters in the show’s story.
Peter Abernathy, played by Louis Herthum, was the first of the hosts to malfunction when he saw a photograph of a woman that was taken outside of the park. He also was the first to utter the phrase, “These violent delights have violent ends,” which Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) said in the first episode of Westworld Season 2, “Journey Into Night.” What makes Peter important, however, is the “package” he’s carrying.
In the Season 1 episode “Trace Decay,” the executive director of the board of Delos Destinations, Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson), uploaded 35 years of park data to Peter, who was put into Cold Storage with other decommissioned hosts. During the Season 2 premiere, Charlotte sends a communication to an unknown person asking to be extracted from the park, which was being taken over by the hosts. The response she received was that they were “awaiting package.” Charlotte explained to Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) that Peter was supposed to arrive the day before, but he didn’t. She said the data is an insurance plane and it’s the “only thing that matters.” This appears to be one of the many side plots of Season 2 as she and Bernard look for Peter.
While most of the first season’s focus was on Dolores and Maeve (Thandie Newton), it was Peter who happened to be around when some of the more important points of the show happened leading some to theorize that he’s the source for everything happening in the show. He was the first to malfunction, which in turn led Dolores to malfunction. After he was in Cold Storage, and then programmed to leave as ordered by Charlotte, then all the deactivated hosts also disappeared. In the first episode of Season 1, viewers learned that prior to him being Dolores’ father and simple ranch owner, Peter played a previous role as The Professor who led a cannibalistic cult. Theories suggest that Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins) may have used Peter to be the catalyst to start the host rebellion.
So where is Peter Abernathy? He was supposed to board a train to go to the Delos Corporation in the outside world, but he didn’t make it. There was no sign of him in the first episode, but with the jumps in time, he could be anywhere in the park or as shown in the Season 2 premiere, maybe even outside of Westworld in another park.
Even though the multiple timelines may be a bit confusing, the first episode of Season 2 did give a hint to the park’s actual location.
