Long before we knew Westworld had the robot uprising in full swing by Season 1 finale “The Bicameral Mind,” or that Ed Harris’ Man in Black had a familiar alter-ego, we knew the character would be back for Season 2. Now, Harris previews his excitement for the “extreme mode” of Season 2, as well clarifying a few points of confusion from the finale.

A new interview with The Hollywood Reporter saw Harris discussing the early build of his character before any connection with Jimmi Simpson’s William (his first thought was Simpson’s mole as well), even clearing up that Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores only dislocated his character’s shoulder in the finale, rather than break the arm altogether. Still, even an additional arm wound from the encroaching Hosts couldn’t dull William/MiB’s smile, to which Harris teased his character truly coming alive in Season 2:

I think it’s more him wanting to play this game on extreme mode. He wants to find out what he’s about. He wants to find out if, in fact, these people are lethal, how’s he going to deal with that? How’s he going to face that? And we’ll see. I don’t know exactly what’s going to be going on in the second season, but I’m sure it’s going to be wild. […]

It’s probably the most excited he’s been. I mean, he’s pretty happy when he’s in that little Mexican village and he tells Lawrence, “This is what I come here for.” And he has a big smile on his face. Then he blows about 10 people away. He was pretty happy at that point, too. (Laughs.) But this is a little bit more. This is deeper. The game’s starting now. Let’s see what happens.

On that note, Harris admitted some difficulty picturing his character in the other side of Delos’ vacation offerings, the samurai-filmed, as-yet-unnamed “SW,” though the actor acknowledged “I’m up for anything. I really trust [creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy].” That said, don’t expect that “anything” to include directing an episode himself, as Harris offered:

I don’t know. Conceivably. But I don’t know that it’s in the offing. I haven’t mentioned it, and nobody’s mentioned it to me. I don’t know the nature of that. It’s got its own style and different [director of photography] every week. I don’t know if it’s something I would want to do. I love working with the actors, but the technical aspect, I’m not quite sure. There’s a certain way that it’s shot and a certain style to it. But it could be fun.

We’ve a long road until Westworld Season 2 debuts in 2018, but what should we expect from Harris’ elder William in Season 2, now that we know his identity from the start?

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