Thandie Newton

Westworld secrecy is a tough nut to crack, but production on Season 2 will surely start soon, in order to make a 2018 return. Before that, the mystery drama’s cast and crew addressed certain mysteries from PaleyFest, including Season 2’s plan to avoid the same production pitfall as Season 1, and a major finale choice that hangs over one character.

The conversation started last week about roles for Black actors in Hollywood is still ongoing. It actually started way before last week, but seems to have hit a nerve with Samuel L. Jackson’s comments about how Black people from Britain taking on American roles in film and TV is wrong. Daniel Kaluuya, London-born star of Get Out, fired back against that opinion in a subsequent interview, saying that it’s hard enough getting roles in the U.K., what with all those Downton Abbey-style period dramas, and that he was sick of having to prove his Blackness to people. Westworld star Thandie Newton, another Londoner who now resides in Los Angeles, seems to agree.

That galaxy far, far away is picking up quite a few stars. The latest report from the Han Solo spinoff is that Westworld’s Thandie Newton is being courted for a starring role.

Okay, so I guess William got that mole of his taken off at some point? Who knew he was so into cosmetic surgery? He should have gotten some plugs for that bald head of his while he was at it.

If you thought Game of Thrones liked to keep its finales cryptic, just try to figure out where Westworld will take us in Sunday’s Season 1 closer “The Bicameral Mind.” HBO has released the full cryptic photo set, as well as a brief synopsis, so let’s throw our wildest, west-est theories at thew wall!

The Man in Black has an origin! It explains nothing and rules out nothing! Ah, Westworld. You are very entertaining even when you are kind of frustrating.

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.

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.

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.