Lisa Joy

Lisa Joy (born circa 1983) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and showrunner. She is best known as the co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the HBO science fiction television series Westworld (2016–2022), along with her husband Jonathan Nolan.

Joy holds a law degree from Harvard Law School, where she edited the Harvard Law Review. Prior to her career in television, she worked as a corporate lawyer. She began her writing career on the USA Network series Burn Notice. Following Burn Notice, she worked on the ABC series Pushing Daisies.

In addition to Westworld, Joy co-created and executive produced the science fiction thriller series The Peripheral (2022-2023) for Amazon Prime Video. She made her feature film directorial debut with the science fiction action film Reminiscence (2021), which she also wrote and produced.

Joy's work often explores themes of artificial intelligence, consciousness, free will, and the nature of reality. She has received multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her work on Westworld.