HBO's "Westworld" [Spoilers!]

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Quote

Writer-director Michael Crichton’s 1973 sci-fi-western Westworld still boasts one of the most high-concept premises of all time: “A robot malfunction creates havoc and terror for unsuspecting vacationers at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park.” Such a genre mashup was rare for its time period, and the image of The Magnificent Seven star Yul Brynner as a robotic gunslinger has become (sort of) iconic.

 

Warner Bros. has been trying to remake Westworld for years, and now Variety reports that The Dark Knight Rises co-writer Jonathan Nolan and J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness) are teaming up to turn the property into a TV series for HBO, to be produced by Jerry Weintraub (Behind the Candelabra) and Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions.

 

According to Deadline, it’s one of the biggest commitments HBO has ever made.

 

HBO has committed to producing the pilot, which will be directed by Nolan, who is also co-writing with his wife, Lisa Joy (Burn Notice). The remake series sounds like it will dig a fair bit deeper into the AI themes than the original, and will be “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.”

 

Much like ’70s cult-sci-fi favorite Logan’s Run, launching a Westworld remake has faced years of obstacles. Names like Mirror Mirror director Tarsem Singh, Quentin Tarantino, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Russell Crowe have all been attached at one point, with producer Jerry Weintraub now looking to TV as his best bet to get this long-gestating project off the ground.

 

http://www.deadline.com/2013/08/westworld-hbo-series-jj-abrams-pilot/

 

[Spring Bass]

The Leftovers will hopefully be good, especially with that talent attached. I liked the book.

I hope Lindelof resists the temptation to try and "explain" the "Rapture" in the book.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Already considered a slam-dunk for a series order, HBO's star-studded drama pilot Westworld was showcased in a major way during Time Warners Investors Day, given thumbs-up by top executives who made it seem a series pickup is indeed a foregone conclusion.

http://deadline.com/2014/10/westworld-series-order-hbo-852005/

Cast and characters

• Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Robert Ford, the brilliant creative director of Westworld.
• Ed Harris as the Man in Black, a mysterious villain.
• James Marsden as Teddy Flood, a newly-arrived gunslinger in pursuit of a local beauty.
• Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores Abernathy, a Western girl who discovers her entire life is an elaborately constructed lie.
• Jeffrey Wright as Bernard Lowe, head of the Westworld Programming Division and creator of artificial people.
• Thandie Newton as Maeve Millay, the beautiful and sharp madame of Westworld.
• Miranda Otto as Virginia Pittmann, head of Westworld's Quality Assurance and a ruthless power player.
• Rodrigo Santoro as Harlan Bell, a wanted man bent on survival.
• Shannon Woodward as Elsie King, a rising star in the Programming Division tasked with odd behavior in the park's artificial beings.
• Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Armistice, a brutal and ruthless bandit.
• Angela Sarafyan as Clementine Pennyfeather, an artifical being and one of Westworld's most popular attractions.
• Simon Quarterman as Lee Sizemore, Westworld's narrative director, whose artistic temperament aggravates his co-workers.
• Eddie Rouse as Kissy, an American-Indian card dealer who also deals contraband goods.
• Ptolemy Slocum as Sylvester.

[Veltigar]

Holy shit Batman! There's some serious starpowers attached to this thing.

[Leofric]

Wonder if they are going to incorporate the Futureworld plot into this or just stick with the original Westworld story.

[Mexal]

Nolan is so busy with PoI, Westworld and Foundation. No idea how he can do it all.

[Slurktan]

I'm very excited for this.

So Ed Harris is the Yul Brenner character. I like that choice a lot.

[Shryke]

Nolan is so busy with PoI, Westworld and Foundation. No idea how he can do it all.

Likely less day-to-day involvement then you think.

Same way JJ Abrahms has his pinky in a million pies.

[Hello World]

He’s probably going to tie Westworld and Foundation into one series.

[JonArryn]

Likely less day-to-day involvement then you think.

Same way JJ Abrahms has his pinky in a million pies.

Not the same at all though. Check your facts. Nolan is working as writer on all those projects and JJ is mostly just producing in tv. There's a big difference there.

[Shryke]

Not the same at all though. Check your facts. Nolan is working as writer on all those projects and JJ is mostly just producing in tv. There's a big difference there.

Did you miss the word "likely" in there?

And Jonathan Nolan is only a co-writer on some PoI scripts and Westworld. Mostly he'd listed as producer. So you know, less involved then you might think.

[Black Wolf Smith]

I so hope that 1 they really do make it (unlike Logan Run, and Blake's 7 :bawl: ) and 2 they really do a good job w/ both the story and feel of it.

I so don't need another "War of the Worlds" "Charlie and the Chocolate factor" or "I am legend", that is all about image/style, that leaves out the, you know heart and soul of the story, because who really needs that?

[JonArryn]

I so hope that 1 they really do make it (unlike Logan Run, and Blake's 7 :bawl: ) and 2 they really do a good job w/ both the story and feel of it.

I so don't need another "War of the Worlds" "Charlie and the Chocolate factor" or "I am legend", that is all about image/style, that leaves out the, you know heart and soul of the story, because who really needs that?

They have already made a pilot and it got accepted and they will turn it into a full season, so this is definitely getting made.

From what I've read about it this has all the foundations to turn into something really good. It has a good creator/writer, good actors and a premise which sounds brilliant, in my opinion. Apparently the hbo bosses liked it a lot, and has thrown quite a bit of money on it.

This is probably my most anticipated tv series/movie at the moment.

And since GoT will air during spring I guess we can assume this will take Boardwalks slot during the fall.

[Jaxom 1974]

This will be something worth checking out. Should appeal to a lot of us who only have rudimentary knowledge of the source material or haven't really watched the movie in 25 years...

[Fez]

To follow up on what was said before, its officially gotten a series pickup now. That seemed a foregone conclusion, but nice to see it confirmed. HBO also released a very strange vine video to announced the pickup.

[Mark Antony]

Fuck that cast is awesome

Ed Harris and Jeffrey Wright>> plus HBO, sign me up

[Sci-2]

Wow.

Lots of star power here, looking forward to it!

[Mark Antony]

First look at Ed Harris in HBO's Westworld + showrunners dish on the upcoming sci-fi series

[Mark Antony]

Apparently this has been pushed back to 2016 :(

[Maester Llama]

Too bad. I'm sure it's largely an issue of filming not being complete or something, but it strikes me that HBO now has several dramas that don't yet have slots, so maybe it's partially a scheduling thing. After David Simon's new miniseries Show Me a Hero finishes end of September they need a fall drama, which I guess we assumed was gonna be Westworld but now will not be. 'Tis probably the new season of The Leftovers. Then they've got that 1970s rock and roll drama from the Boardwalk Empire people, though that doesn't even have a title yet so how far along it is who knows. That miniseries about social climbing and identity or whatever Codes of Conduct, which I think is directed by the filmmaker who directed 12 Years a Slave, and something called Crime, which is an adaptation of a UK thing. I know HBO will occasionally run two dramas simultaneously, but they seem to prefer to program a mix of drama and comedy for their Sunday originals, which makes sense. So maybe they find themselves a bit backed up? [Which is opposite to the problem they had this past winter, when they didn't have any dramas ready to go and programmed all comedies instead.] Looking forward to Westworld with great interest when it does appear.