Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood Enter 'Westworld'

About a year ago we learned J.J. Abrams would be teaming up with Jonathan Nolan, writer on The Dark Knight and Interstellar, to bring back Michael Crichton's 1973 sci-fi film Westworld as an HBO series. Little was learned about it since but now we know a top notch cast will be leading the future-set show.

First reported at Filmdivider, Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood have come aboard Westworld, with James Marsden eying a role, as well. The story takes place in an amusement park populated by androids in famous historical settings. When the robots become self aware, their interactions with the human visitors becomes deadly.

Hopkins would be taking on the role of Dr. Robert Ford, the Dr. Moreau-esque man who runs the park. Wood has taken the part of Dolores Abernathy, an android that doesn't realize her farm girl life is all part of the system's programming. Marsden would play cowboy hero, Teddy Flood.

Abrams will be producing through his Bad Robot banner, with Nolan co-writing and directing the pilot, which HBO has already committed to.

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J.J. Abrams and Jonathan Nolan Bringing 'Westworld' Remake to HBO

At this point it seems that the realm of science fiction is being completely dominated by J.J. Abrams, with his hands all over the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises. And of course, it's a genre he's been more than happy to tackle on the small screen through Lost, Fringe, and Almost Human, which just got picked up by Fox. Now he's teaming up with his The Dark Knight Rises scribe Jonathan Nolan for a TV series remake of 1973's sci-fi classic, Westworld.

HBO has ordered up a pilot for Westworld, which will be produced by Abrams' Bad Robot and Nolan serving as co-writer and director. Abrams and Nolan are currently working together on the CBS series Person of Interest, which will be entering its third season soon. HBO is describing the series as a “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.”. Put simply, the original film was directed by Michael Crichton, and involved robots at a historically-themed amusement park that become self aware. The park in the film was broken up into multiple "eras", including the Wild West, Roman, and Middle Ages, and it will be interesting to see how they're incorporated into a series. Yul Brynner played the main robot, a cowboy of course, and he returned for the poorly-received sequel, Futureworld.

Joining Nolan as co-writer is Pushing Daisies scribe Lisa Joy, with Jerry Weintraub producing. Weintraub has been trying to get this remake done for years, mostly on the silver screen, but finding a spot on HBO's roster of series hits could be even better. How does a Sunday night of Game of Thrones of and Westworld strike you? [Variety]

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