In the wake of a spate of impressive-sounding casting announcements, it has been confirmed that HBO have placed a series order for Westworld, the sci-fi thriller adaptation of the Michael Crichton-directed/written 1973 film of the same name, reports IGN.
With True Blood, The Newsroom and Boardwalk Empire all either having finished or due to end imminently, there is room on HBO’s schedule at present, and it looks like Westworld will take at least one of those slots.
The new series is being produced by JJ Abrams and Jonathan Nolan, and has been described as a “dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin”, although many will remember it as the ‘robot-theme-park-gone-terribly-horribly-wrong’ film, which originally starred the likes of Yul Brynner, James Brolin and Richard Benjamin.
If this sounds a bit familiar, then you’re probably thinking of the Simpsons episode ‘Itchy & Scratchy Land’
The cast of the remake looks similarly impressive, with those confirmed so far including James Marsden (X-Men), Ed Harris (The Abyss, Snowpiercer), Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible 2), Evan Rachel Wood (The Wrestler), Anthony Hopkins (The Silence Of The Lambs, Thor: The Dark World), Jeffrey Wright (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Source Code), Miranda Otto (the Lord Of The Rings trilogy) and many more.
Westworld will air on HBO sometime in 2015. Keep up with the latest genre news with the new issue of SciFiNow.