Westworld Trivia: 38 interesting facts about the HBO series!

Westworld is an American science fiction thriller television series. Let’s see some amazing facts and trivia about it!

1.It is based on the 1973 film of the same name, which was written and directed by American novelist Michael Crichton.

2. Nolan serves as executive producer along with Joy, J. J. Abrams and Bryan Burk with Nolan directing the pilot. The first episode premiered on October 2, 2016.

3. The series takes place in the fictional theme park of Westworld, a technologically advanced, Western theme park populated completely by synthetic androids dubbed “Hosts”, who cater to high paying visitors dubbed “Newcomers”, who can do what they wish within the park without fear of retaliation from the Hosts.

4. Warner Bros. had been considering a remake of Westworld since the early 1990s and after the departure of studio executive Jessica Goodman in 2011, the project was again under consideration.

5. A feature film remake did not happen, and on August 31, 2013, it was announced that premium cable channel HBO had ordered a pilot for a potential television series version of the story, with Jonathan Nolan directing and co-writing with Lisa Joy. Nolan, Joy, J. J. Abrams and Bryan Burk are executive producers.

6. HBO announced on November 17, 2014, that Westworld had been taken to series and would premiere in 2015.

7. In August 2015, HBO released the first teaser which revealed it would premiere in 2016.

8. It is the second series based on Crichton’s original story after the 1980s Beyond Westworld, which aired only three episodes on CBS before being cancelled.

9. The series’ title sequence was created by production studio Elastic, which had previously created the title sequences for Rome, Carnivale and Game of Thrones for HBO.

10. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the ten episodes were produced on an estimated $100 million budget, on par with HBO’s rock drama Vinyl which got cancelled after just one season.

11. Sources close to the publication fix the budget for the 90 minute Westworld pilot alone in the $25 million range, including reshoots, with some costs financed to episode two as parts of the series debut were moved out of the premiere (HBO had recently scrapped the entire original Game of Thrones pilot, which had a price tag of $20 million).

12. The per-episode budget is said to be anywhere from $8 million to $10 million. HBO paid a massive undisclosed licensing fee to Warner Bros. Television for airing the series. Both share in the costs for the drama, with sources noting it’s likely a 50-50 split and HBO serving as the lead on the series.

13. Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood were the first cast members to be formally announced, taking on the roles of Dr. Robert Ford and Dolores Abernathy, respectively.

14. Jeffrey Wright, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Angela Sarafyan, and Simon Quarterman were all announced as cast members in August 2014.

15. James Marsden and Eddie Rouse were also added to the cast.[4] Ed Harris was cast in a key villain role, known only as the Man in Black.

16. Other roles were filled by Demetrius Grosse, Kyle Bornheimer, Currie Graham, Lena Georgas, Steven Ogg, Timothy Lee DePriest, Ptolemy Slocum, Thandie Newton, and Miranda Otto.

17. In July 2015, it was announced that Otto had departed the show due to her commitments to fifth season of Homeland and she was replaced by Sidse Babett Knudsen. Additionally, three others were cast; Eion Bailey, Jimmi Simpson and Clifton Collins Jr.

18. Bailey was later replaced by Ben Barnes.

19. The first trailer for the series revealed that Talulah Riley had a role in the series.

20. Filming for the pilot took place in August 2014 in and around Los Angeles, California.

21. Filming locations in California included Santa Clarita, at Melody Ranch in Newhall and at Paramount Ranch in Agoura.

22. The series also filmed in southern Utah, specially Castle Valley and Fisher Valley

23. The music is composed by Ramin Djawadi, who also worked with Nolan on the TV series Person of Interest.

24. Initial reception of the series has been positive, with particular praise towards the visuals, story, thematic elements, and world building. After early reviews, the first season has a 88% approval rating based on 66 critics on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 8 out of 10.

25. The site’s consensus reads “With an impressive level of quality that honors its source material, the brilliantly addictive Westworld balances intelligent, enthralling drama against outright insanity.”

26. On Metacritic, the first season has a score of 73 out of 100 based on 40 reviews, indicating “generally favorable reviews”.

27. The editors of TV Guide has placed Westworld fifth among the top ten picks for the most anticipated new shows of the 2016-17 season.

28. In writer Tim Surette’s overall review, he notes the perfect concept of blending the western premise into a futuristic setting, saying that “Well, Westworld has both, ensuring that it will be an exciting mashup of genres that will disrupt a television landscape that typically says we can only have one or the other.”

29. He also added “The look of the show and its fine cast swing open the saloon doors, but the real treat will be the intelligent discussion of whether or not robots will eventually kill us all. Thankfully, creator Jonathan Nolan already showed us he’s the go-to guy for A.I. with Person of Interest.”

30. In North America, the show is broadcast on HBO in the United States and on HBO Canada in Canada on October 2, 2016.

31. Internationally, the series was acquired in Australia by Showcase with each episode screening at the same time as the U.S. broadcast.

32. In the UK and Republic of Ireland, Westworld will be broadcast on Sky Atlantic beginning on October 4, 2016

33.Jonathan Nolan describes Westworld as “the next chapter of the human story,in which we stop being protagonists.”

34. Quentin Tarantino was asked to helm this remake, but he declined.

35. Tarsem Singh was once attached to direct the film.

36. Ed Harris will play a similar role to that of Yul brynner’s in the original Crichton.

37. Ed Herris was also involved with The Truman Show (1998). Almost the same premise, but in the movie, everyone is real, and are aware that they are in a reality show except for Truman, played by Jim Carrey.

38. Miranda Otto left the show after shooting the pilot in order to fully focus on participation in the fifth season of Homeland (2011). She was replaced by Sidse Babett Knudsen.