Following Westworld’s recent season-two premiere on Sunday, April 22, despite ratings for the first two episodes of the second season slightly down from the first season, which was HBO’s most popular first-year series ever, HBO has decided to renew the Emmy-winning drama series for a third season. It comes as no surprise that the premium network maintains faith in the series that debuted as HBO’s most popular first-year ever.

HBO’s president of programming, Casey Bloys, had this to say:

“It’s been an extraordinary pleasure to work with the exceptionally talented Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, as well as their gifted cast and crew. From the inspired storytelling to the incredible visuals, we are so excited to see where the next chapter will take us.”

There has been no word on the production timeline for the third season, but fans will never forget how long they had to wait between season one and season two. Nearly 16 months had past between the season one finale and the second season premiere, so could the third season take just as long to develop? Typically a show will return within a year, but not Westworld. But if it takes just as long to create another stellar season then we should allow the production team to make the best out of their time to give fans a solid show.

The excitement for what was to come built strong anticipation with a full installation at SXSW earlier this spring where attendees could visit a mock-up Westworld environment. And if the network is as gung-ho about their series enough to make a full scale interactive world then one can only imagine how big season three could be.

Created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, “Westworld” stars Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Luke Hemsowrth, Tessa Thompson, and Ed Harris. Season 2 is currently airing on Sunday nights only on HBO.