HBO’s Westworld series was an ambitious proposition from the moment it was announced. The brainchild of showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the serial adaptation of Michael Crichton’s 1973 movie boasts a sprawling ensemble cast and an even bigger budget. This is an epic tale, after all, telling of a futuristic theme park where the attractions are androids. Naturally things go awry, and the ‘droids of the Western part of the park start to malfunction. You can’t cobble together something that grand without spending, and the network wants to get it right.
After going on a “brief hiatus” earlier this year to get the scripts punched up, production has resumed on the series that’s described as “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.” It’s a tantalising concept, which played a major part in attracting such a stellar cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Miranda Otto, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Angela Sarafyan and Simon Quarterman.
You can now count Lili Simmons among that starry line-up, as Deadline reports that the True Detective actress is currently filming on the show as Abigail, a woman “who works in the park and uses her good looks and charm to lure Westworld guests into the saloon.”
Bearing in mind that production on Westworld began years ago, it’s strange that we’ve only seen a brief glimpse at footage and we’re still no closer to receiving a confirmed release date. Here’s hoping that we’ll get a trailer in the next few months.
