“This is the new world,” jaded android Maeve (Thandiwe Newton) said to disillusioned mortal ally Caleb (Aaron Paul) in the dark sci-fi drama’s gruesome 2020 Season 3 finale. They, along with wily robot Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), had freed humans from the mind control of a massive AI entity. But Dolores died in the fight, and the unchained masses were torching skyscrapers.

The Westworld Season 4 opener picks up seven years later. “Some things are very, very, very different. Some things have stayed the same,” says executive producer Lisa Joy. Civilization still exists, as do Westworld-style theme parks where robot hosts entertain guests, as Maeve and Dolores did before they gained sentience and escaped. New “worlds” re-create eras of “decadence and sin — so much of human nature is revealed in those times,” Joy adds.

In an eerie twist, Wood is back but as a new character, Christina. “She’s a young lady living in a familiar [big] city, going through the relatable emotions of a twentysomething trying to make it,” Joy teases. She has a good friend, played by a new recurring cast member, West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose.

Android Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) — last spotted overseeing a facility that was producing an army of hosts — could be a threat to any peace, though. And one of those hosts, a robot replica of William/The Man in Black (Ed Harris), killed his human doppelgänger. Is he really dead? Joy plays coy. “Ed Harris is back and looking as dangerous and dark as ever,” she says. “We’ll see what secrets we learn about him.”

Westworld, Season 4 Premiere, Sunday, June 26, 9/8c, HBO