'Westworld' Fans Are Convinced Caleb Is A Host Because Of This Tiny Detail

Westworld has undergone a significant shift after the first two seasons. After spending almost all of the action within the confines of Delos' park system, Season 3 is set in the real world. The good news is that the same characters still star in the series. The better news is that by leaving the enclosure, there's a new set of friends to be made. From Liam Dempsey Jr. to Caleb, Dolores is meeting all sorts of new people from different walks of life. But fans are suspicious, is Caleb a host on Westworld? Warning: Spoilers for Westworld Season 3 follow.

At first glance, Caleb seems like your average Joe living his life in 2058. He's an ex-Army vet who is adjusting back into civilian life. Caleb wakes up every morning and goes to his construction job running fiber cables. He's struggling to make ends meet, especially for his elderly mother, who is in long-term, in-patient care. He does a few petty crime jobs when he needs to, but he's not willing to hustle over it.

Caleb leads the kind of life experienced by those who cannot afford to pay Delos for a vacation. Unlike the Jerrys and the Conells, he's the kind of man Dolores never meets. And she's the kind of host Caleb would never know existed.

But fans know things in Westworld should never be taken at face value. After two seasons of "Surprise! This character was secretly a host," hardcore viewers will not be fooled again. And many of them think Caleb is not who he seems.

Let's run down the clues.

The first is the visual of Caleb waking up every day (bottom), which is a direct reference to Dolores and Maeve waking up in Seasons 1 and 2 to restart their loops.

When Caleb's visit with his mother is over, she says, "You're not my son." At first, it seems like this is just a sign of her dementia getting worse. She no longer knows him. But is that true?

Caleb's conversations with Francis suggest there's something viewers are missing.

• Francis asks if Caleb has turned his implant back on.
• Caleb talks about how the army, and now the rest of the world, is run on algorithms.
• Francis isn't actually on the other end of the phone. He died on his last mission with Caleb.
• Caleb says outright he's had a gun pointed at him, and he's been shot in the head as well.

Caleb could have survived their final mission while Francis did not. On the surface, that seems the going theory. But fans are not nearly so sure. Was Caleb killed in action? Is this a host-clone test of some kind? What is the "implant" Caleb turned off? Is Francis testing for fidelity?

It seems like whenever Westworld is playing it straight, there are clues everywhere that say otherwise.