I think we can all agree that spoilers are annoying. Be it from some person on your Facebook feed you barely speak to post a spoiler about some show you’re not up to date on, or a reckless headline on an entertainment website. Spoilers are an unfortunate side effect of must-see TV, but Westworld showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have suggested an unusual way to prevent fan theories from being taken as a genuine spoiler. Well, I say unusual, it’s maddness!

Speaking during a Reddit Ask Me Anything, Nolan posted the following statement;

“Many thanks for your great questions and thoughts. As I’ve said before, I’ve been a member of the reddit community for years (no I’m not going to share my original username…). And I greatly enjoyed watching the friendly folks at this subreddit guess the twists and turns of the season.

It creates a larger problem for us, though, in terms of the way your guesswork is reported online. ‘Theories’ can actually be spoilers, and the line between the two is confusing. It’s something we’ve been thinking about since last season. The fans of Game of Thrones, for instance, rallied around and protected the secrets of the narrative in part because they already knew those secrets (through season 5).

We thought about this long and hard, and came to a difficult (and potentially highly controversial) decision. If you guys agree, we’re going to post a video that lays out the plot (and twists and turns) of season 2. Everything. The whole sordid thing. Up front. That way the members of the community here who want the season spoiled for them can watch ahead, and then protect the rest of the community, and help to distinguish between what’s ‘theory’ and what’s a spoiler.

It’s a new age, and a new world in terms of the relationship between the folks making shows and the community watching them. And trust is a big part of that. We’ve made our cast part of this decision, and they’re fully supportive. We’re so excited to be in this with you guys together. So if this post reaches a 1000 upvotes we’ll deliver the goods.”

Surely this can’t be happening? One of the biggest HBO shows since Game of Thrones is considering laying out all the details of its highly anticipated second season before it is broadcast? And this is meant to prevent spoilers leaking out how? It’s unclear if Nolan was joking, but the lengthy statement does appear legit. The second a video detailing all the twists and turns of Westworld hits the internet, that information will be everywhere, and even the casual viewer would struggle to remain spoiler free. Hopefully, this is all just a jest and Westworld season two can be broadcast without the showrunners releasing the spoilers.

Part of the fun of these shows is the fan theories, the endless debate with your viewing chums about what’s going on, what will happen and everything in between. While I agree that some fans could do a better job of not spoiling things for everybody even if they’ve worked it out, but is this really the best solution?