Westworld is an American science fiction Western thriller television series created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy for HBO. It is based on the 1973 film of the same name. This is actually the second TV series spawned by the film. The first, Beyond Westworld, emerged in 1980 and lasted just five episodes. The new one is already a huge deal: the first episode aired in the States on Sunday night and was HBO’s biggest series debut in three years. The basic plot hasn’t changed: Westworld is a theme park populated by state-of-the-art androids. Human customers come to live out their wild west fantasies, interacting with the cyborg locals, mostly by either killing them or having sex with them. Or both. At the end of the holiday, the blood gets cleared up, the locals are repaired, and the whole narrative is re-booted for the next wave of visitors.
A sci-fi drama set in an Old West theme park where guests interact with automatons in scenarios that are developed, overseen and scripted by the park’s creative, security and quality assurance departments. The plot is far-featched and has futuristic vibe to it. This specific series is character oriented and has a lot of depth in the character, it’s awesome to see such a talented cast creating such a amazing show. There are so many ideas at work that Westworld might easily have succumbed to its own complications, but it rips along, aided by a top-notch cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Thandie Newton and Ed Harris, who seems to be the sadistic human counterpart to Yul Brynner’s 1973 robot gunslinger. At times the story seemed to be getting ahead of viewers, but that appears to be intentional. I think I’m meant to be confused at this stage.
In Season 2, hopefully we get an expansion on many of them, as I’d love to see more of Teddy’s own host “awakening” and learn more about the motivations of Westworld employees among other elements. Suffice to say though that Westworld’s first season hooked me into this universe start to finish and has me incredibly excited for what comes next. The next installment would hopefully takes us to edge with their way of telling story.
