Four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris has joined the cast of HBO’s upcoming sci-fi drama Westworld.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Harris will play the series’ primary villain, The Man In Black — likely a variation of the black-clad gunslinger character Yul Brynner played in the original, 1973 Westworld film written and directed by Michael Crichton.
Harris joins an already impressive cast that includes Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Rodrigo Santoro, and James Marsden, with J.J. Abrams producing the series along with Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight) and Lisa Joy (Burn Notice). Nolan and Joy co-wrote the pilot, and Nolan will direct the first episode.
The series is described as a “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin,” and is expected to delve into the themes of the original film, which unfolded in a futuristic theme park for adults in which all of their entertainment needs are fulfilled by robots designed to look and act like humans in nearly every way. Naturally, something goes awry and the tourists find themselves fleeing various androids with lethal intent.
There’s currently no timetable for the series’ premiere.
