The Androids Are Packin’ Heat In First Image From Jonathan Nolan’s HBO Series Westworld

Next year HBO will be breaking every ratings record known to man when its flagship series, Game Of Thrones, returns to our screens. However, their next show that’s aiming to woo viewers with its dystopian sci-fi madness is their retread of Michael Crichton’s 1973 movie, Westworld. With a cast and crew that boasts some of the industry’s finest pioneers, it’s the production ensemble of Jonathan Nolan, J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and Jerry Weintraub that lends this adaptation hefty clout.

The former – brother of Christopher Nolan – has now spoken out (via EW) about what we can expect from the series. For those who are unfamiliar with Crichton’s film, the story revolves around a high-tech theme park in the future where androids are installed to fulfil every sordid human whim.

“It’s a place where you can be whoever you want to be and there are no consequences—no rules, no limitations,” Nolan said. “What happens in Westworld, stays in Westworld.”

For the show, which co-creator Lisa Joy has dubbed “sci-fi but mashed-up with a Western,” the producers have attracted a dazzling cast of big-names and up-and-comers. Taking on the executive role as the park’s creative genius is Anthony Hopkins, with Ed Harris rebranding the infamous robotic gunslinger that Yul Brynner tackled in the original. There’s no official character profiles for the remainder of the cast, but they are expected to emerge when more story details are made public.

With regards to the specifics of the story, which will no doubt be tweaked from the movie to better suit a long-form serial format, Nolan would only offer the barest of bones:

“What we can tell you is that we intend to make the most ambitious, subversive, f–ked-up television series. The things that keep you up at night, any of those things that trouble you—that is exactly what the show is about.”

To prepare fans for the show’s debut next year, the first official glimpses at the subversive show went live today. One is the above image, depicting one of the androids wielding a rifle, and another is a brief shot of Ed Harris in HBO’s 2015 preview that you can check out below.

Co-starring Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Miranda Otto, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Angela Sarafyan and Simon Quarterman, Westworld is set to debut sometime in 2015.