HBO's Westworld is flushing out its ranks, adding six cast members to the Anthony Hopkins starrer.
Inspired by Michael Crichton's 1973 film of the same name, the drama is billed as a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin. Hopkins stars as Dr. Robert Ford, the brilliant, taciturn and complicated creative director, chief programmer and chairman of the board of Westworld, who has an uncompromising creative vision for the park — and unorthodox methods of achieving it. Evan Rachel Wood portrays Dolores Abernathy, the quintessential farm girl of the frontier West — who is about to discover that her entire idyllic existence is an elaborately constructed lie.
Joining Hopkins and Wood are Jeffrey Wright (Boardwalk Empire), Rodrigo Santoro (Lost), Shannon Woodward (Raising Hope), Ingrid Bolso Berdal (Hercules), Angela Sarafyan (Twilight: Breaking Dawn — Part 2)and Simon Quarterman.
Wright will play Bernard Lowe, the brilliant and quixotic head of the park's programming division. His keen observation of human nature provides him with boundless inspiration for his life’s work — creating artificial people.
Santoro (Focus' Dominion) is set as the terrifying and brutal with a dark sense of humor Harlan Bell, Westworld's perennial "most wanted" bandit. He subscribes to the theory that the West is a wild place, and the only way to survive is to embrace the role of predator.
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Woodward, marking her first regular role since Fox's Raising Hope, is Elsie King, a sardonic rising star in the programming division charged with diagnosing the odd quirks of behaviors in the park's hosts.
Berdal will portray Armistice, a savage fighter and brutal bandit whose ruthlessness with her victims is surpassed only by her abiding loyalty to her fellow outlaws.
Sarafyan is set as Clementine Pennyfeather, one of Westworld's most popular attractions, every aspect of Clementine is perfectly beguiling, by design.
Quarterman rounds out the new additions as Lee Sizemore, the narrative director of Westworld, whose inspired storylines consistently delight or terrify the guests — and his artistic temperament consistently grates on his colleagues.
J.J. Abrams will executive produce alongside veteran producer Jerry Weintraub and Bad Robot's Bryan Burk. Person of Interest's Jonathan Nolan, who co-wrote the pilot, will executive produce and direct as well. Lisa Joy co-wrote the pilot and will exec produce. Kathy Lingg will co-EP and Athena Wickham is a producer on the Warner Bros. Television drama. David Coatsworth is set as a co-EP and line producer, with Susie Ekins set as a co-producer. Westworld hails from Abrams' Bad Robot Productions, Jerry Weintraub Productions and Kilter Films.
Wright is with CAA; Woodward is with UTA and Untitled; Santoro is repped by ICM Partners and Brillstein Entertainment; Berdal is with UTA and Lindberg Management; Sarafyan is with Innovative, Evolution and Hansen Jacobson; and Quarterman is with Resolution and Coronel Group.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com
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