With a premiere booked in for October 2, HBO is currently making the final preparations before cutting the proverbial red tape to Westworld, the long-awaited sci-fi drama hailing from Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.
Perched somewhere between the artificial future and the reimagined past, Westworld is a seralized spin on Michael Crichton’s 1973 movie of the same name that chronicles the story of Anthony Hopkins’ Dr. Robert Ford – a twisted concoction of Walt Disney and Dr. Frankenstein, according to Hopkins himself – who presides over a Western-themed amusement park designed to entertain its guests via artificial intelligence.
Dolores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) is among the army of manufactured avatars populating Westworld, who slowly become sentient as the show progresses. But don’t be fooled into thinking that HBO’s long-awaited drama will telegraph all of its twists and turns, with James Marsden telling Entertainment Weekly that viewers will be best to leave any lingering preconceptions at the door. Said he: “You’ll constantly be off balance. You’ll think you’ll know what’s happening, and where [the story is] going, but you’ll be wrong.”
In terms of the man pulling the strings, Anthony Hopkins also noted that Robert Ford is a man drunk on power who begins to bear witness to his idealistic vision spinning out of control: “He wants to create a pure dystopia or utopia, but he begins to realize that he’s lost track of it.”
At least for now, HBO is keeping hush hush regarding the extent of Marsden’s character, Teddy Flood. What we do know is that he’ll be flanked by an all-star ensemble comprised of Ed Harris, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Jimmi Simpson, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Ben Barnes, Simon Quarterman, Angela Sarafyan, Luke Hemsworth and Clifton Collins, Jr.
HBO has slated Westworld for a premiere on October 2. Below, you can feast your eyes on the show’s key art, which perfectly encapsulates that fusion between the past and the future.
