One scene really stood out to me on this week’s Westworld. Robo-madam Maeve (Thandie Newton), one of the Hosts in the Western park who is beginning to develop consciousness, suddenly remembers one of the many times she’s been killed. She also has a vision of a terrifying man in a white and red suit, pulling her away, performing surgery on her, tossing her body in a hap of others. She draws the figure on a piece of paper, then goes to hide it under the floorboards in her room where she discovers a pile of similar slips of paper, indicating she’s played this scenario out over and over again.
Three episodes in, Westworld is quickly becoming a show of theories. Tonight’s “The Stray” didn’t advance much of the show’s overarching narrative, but it did throw a major monkey wrench into one of the more notable theories which has been written about a lot after it popped up on Reddit. It proposes that William, the character played by Jimmi Simpson, is actually the young version of the guy played by Ed Harris, the so-called “Man in Black.” According to the theory, Harris’ scenes take place years after the ones with Simpson, something that would hypothetically be possible because the robotic Hosts never age. The series already alluded to trouble at the park some 30 years ago; perhaps those are the events in young William’s “timeline”?
About a dozen minutes into “Chestnut,” the second episode of Westworld, Ed Harris’ Man in Black rides up on a posse that’s bout to hang a man named Lawrence (Clifton Collins Jr.). Lawrence doesn’t recognize the Man in Black, but the Man in Black knows Lawrence; later he’ll joke that he even knows the tune he likes to whistle when he takes a piss. Only two episodes into this series, we’ve already seen Harris’ character do this a couple times; he approaches everyone with familiarity, something that probably shouldn’t be surprising if, as the Man in Black claims, he’s been coming to Westworld for 30 years and the park recycles the same day with the same stories and characters on an endless loop.
You’ve waited long enough for HBO’s Westworld, and believe us, it was worth the wait. No longer, however, as new clips and photos from Sunday’s premiere should keep you satisfied over the weekend. Meet the Man in Black, and the man behind Westworld!
Michael Crichton’s 1973 sci-fi film is something of a cult classic, offering an early blueprint for Jurassic Park with its tale of scientists playing God and an ill-advised theme park run amok (seriously, what on earth happened during Crichton’s family vacations?). Similarly, Crichton’s campy romp through a futuristic resort serves as a blueprint for HBO’s Westworld, which takes a more thoughtful and unsettling approach in its inversion of the ’73 film, presenting the A.I. (or “hosts”) as the protagonists of the series.
Paramount to the appeal of HBO’s new Westworld TV series is that the Bad Robot-backed drama will explore the 1973 film concept from the point of view of its android attractions, rather than attendees of the park. As such, the latest trailer for the October premiere feels appropriately dreamlike and spooky, as the world of Westworld falls apart, piece, by piece.
If anything can pluck HBO out of its current drama slump, Westworld might finally do the trick. A series of stops and starts finally gave way to an October premiere, and a new round of cast photos should make that wait just a bit less painful.
HBO may not have delivered a new trailer to go along with its formal confirmation that Westworld would debut on October 2, but the latest photos at least help preview its expansive cast. In addition to the latest story details, get a new look at Westworld in these fresh character portraits.
It’s been delayed and written off enough for a few reservations, but HBO’s Westworld is finally at hand. Following a vague fall schedule, HBO now confirms the J.J. Abrams-produced sci-fi western will officially bow this October.