HBO’s new take on Michael Crichton’s Westworld promises to take us long past the point where hedonism and wish-fulfilment become something darker, uglier and potentially more violent. Its human (i.e. non-robot) characters will be hedonising themselves right into an early grave, if the ten-parter pans out anything like the 1973 movie adaptation.
"Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin,” runs HBO’s synopsis, "exploring a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged.” This new swathe of images are light on the sin but offer a handy guide to the characters involved.
Below (top down) are James Marsden as mysterious cowboy Teddy and Evan Rachel Wood as robotic rancher's daughter Dolores Abernathy. Then comes Rodrigo Santoro (300) as Hector Escaton, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as Armistice, Thandie Newton as A.I. brothel madam Maeve and Angela Sarafyan as Clementine.
The Jurassic-Park-with-robots-like premise, of course, sees wealthy human tourists buying themselves vacation time in the Old West. Except it's a new Old West populated with A.I. simulacrums of cowpokes, prostitutes, saloon barkeeps and all the other staples of life in the dustier states.
“I’ve always felt in adaptation you have to be a bit of a heretic,” explains co-writer Jonathan Nolan. “What we keep is the brilliant, subversive idea of the set-up: what if there was a place you could go and act out your darkest fantasies with no consequences.” Except, there are consequences. Plenty of 'em. Bad ones.
Head to HBO’s Westworld site for more images from the show. The network has just announced its US premiere date – 9pm on 2 October – and lands on these shores, courtesy of Sky Atlantic, sometime during the same month.
Pick up the new issue of Empire, onsale on Thursday 26 August, for much more on Westworld, including the full interview with Nolan and his co-writer Lisa Joy.
Picture credits: John P. Johnson/HBO