In the annals of TV history, few things have been paired together less than “sci-fi and HBO,” which makes the network’s latest pick-up one of the most promising projects in all of cable. HBO has officially ordered to series a small screen remake of Michael Crichton’s 1973 classic Westworld, and it boasts the finest ensemble cast this side of Game of Thrones. Bring on the sexy robots!
HBO clued future audiences in to this pickup via a string of tweets and Vine videos, which is obviously how an actual Westworld theme park would advertise its existence. The cast is reportedly signing multi-year deals as well, which leads one to think that HBO is planning on keeping this one around a while, critical acclaim pending. Here’s how the network decided to announce the news, with a picture I’d never have matched up with the film or its subject matter.
Someone correctly guessed that it was related to Westworld, and HBO then released a Golden Ratio clue and the video clip below.
This is just one of the glitchy clips seen on HBO’s Twitter page, giving us our first glimpse into this futuristic series. We’re obviously in for some rough times ahead when it comes to mixing humans and electronics, as this version of Westworld will feature a bevy of robot hosts at the central amusement park who can be killed off and reset with new character traits, giving the all-star cast a chance to showcase an assortment of personalities. Because you just know things are going to go very wrong for these characters.
Evan Rachel Wood, in a rare shift to TV, will play Delores, a Western-themed droid who somehow figures out exactly what she is and how sadistic this theme park is. James Marsden plays a gunslinger host named Teddy who’s looking for love. For his first major TV role, Anthony Hopkins stars as Westworld creator and creative director Dr. Robert Ford. Ed Harris plays the mysteriously evil Man in Black. And the cast is rounded out by Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Shannon Woodward, Miranda Otto, Rodrigo Santoro, Simon Quarterman, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Angela Sarafyan, Eddie Rouse and more.
For its creative team, Westworld boasts creators/writers/executive producers Jonathan Nolan (of the Dark Knight/Interstellar Nolan brothers) and Lisa Joy (Burn Notice), who also have a project in development at HBO adapting Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series. As well, Jerry Weintraub and the Bad Robot team of J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk are on board as executive producers. I’m pretty sure we already know more about this project than we did about Interstellar and Star Trek Into Darkness the week before either film came out.
HBO plans on bringing Westworld to viewers in 2015. Will you or your artificially intelligent servants be watching?
