There’s a new trailer for HBO’s upcoming Westworld series, and it’s the stuff of nightmares in so many ways.
Titled “Dreams,” the latest trailer for the sci-fi series based on Michael Crichton’s 1973 film of the same name explores how the android inhabitants of the futuristic Wild West theme park interpret their existence — an existence that involves all manner of sex, violence, and disturbing activity. And from what the trailer suggests, the sins that surround them don’t go away when they close their eyes.
Executive produced, co-written, and directed by Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight, Interstellar), Westworld unfolds in and around a theme park populated by artificially intelligent robots whose primary directive is to indulge the desires of human guests, no matter how noble or depraved. When the android inhabitants of the park begin to question the nature of their existence, the lines between the brutal realities of the theme park and the outside human world begin to blur.
The series premieres next month with the first of 10 hourlong episodes. Its all-star cast includes Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins and four-time Academy Award nominee Ed Harris, as well as Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Jimmi Simpson, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Ben Barnes, Simon Quarterman, Angela Sarafyan, Luke Hemsworth, and Clifton Collins, Jr.
Westworld is co-written and executive produced by Lisa Joy Nolan (Burn Notice, Pushing Daisies), with J.J. Abrams also serving as an executive producer through his Bad Robot Productions studio.
The series has already encountered some controversy due to its graphic themes, with HBO pressured to address some of the intense sexual elements described in a consent form circulated by a third-party casting agency in September 2015.
Westworld is scheduled to premiere at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 2, on HBO.
