Across its 10-episode debut, HBO’s Westworld developed a knack for pulling the rug out from under us multiple times over.
It’s a credit to series showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, then, that Westworld‘s twists and turns never strained credulity – if anything, they only left us wanting more.
More is on the way, praise the gods, as Nolan and Joy are just now putting the finishing touches to Westworld season 2, which promises to delve deep into the park’s history and its many secrets, beginning with those creepy (and faceless!) robots known as the drone hosts. And that’s hosts plural, as Jonathan Nolan recently teased some of the creatures lurking within the depths of the park.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, lead star Jimmi Simpson recently reflected on that major story twist that revealed his William and the Man in Black were one and the same.
It’s arguably one of the greatest bait-and-switches in recent memory, and during a new interview with Collider, Simpson outlined the ways in which he approached his duplicitous character arc:
I was playing it as if we’re just now scratching the surface. Once I was clear what was happening, it wasn’t to try to get to Ed [Harris], by the end of the season. It was to try to get to a believable seedling of what becomes Ed. In my mind’s eye, to help me as an actor and to get through what I needed to do, there was a certain romantic next few chapters, in which a very, very confused William tries to battle the anger that he’s feeling towards having his heart broken. So, that’s what I was playing. It was the crack into, ‘Okay, this could go two ways.’
The second season of HBO’s Westworld will begin its rollout on April 22nd. And we couldn’t be more excited.
