Marsden picks ‘Sonic’ to follow up ‘Westworld’

James Marsden tries to avoid slipping down the rabbit hole of emotional darkness in his career - and after the latest season of dystopian series “Westworld” the actor needed a palette cleanse.

It’s one of the reasons Marsden says he signed onto “Sonic the Hedgehog,” a liveaction and CGI animated flick based on the popular video game. While his character in the film is veiled in secrecy, he insists it’s nothing like Teddy, the robotic gunslinger he plays on TV.

“I always try and do the polar opposite of what I just finished, and ‘Westworld’ is a heavy show,” he says of the series, which finishes its latest season Sunday on HBO Canada.

“You want to go do something else completely different.”

Throwing some unpredictability into his career is something Marsden has attempted on a low-key level for years.

He’s played Cyclops in the X-men franchise, John F. Kennedy in “The Butler” and Liz Lemon’s love interest on “30 Rock.”

Later this year he’ll join the ensemble of Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” alongside Leonardo Dicaprio, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Burt Reynolds and Luke Perry.

Those roles are nothing like starring on “Westworld,” a show with an online fan base that passionately debates its thematic elements, which include mankind’s blind acceptance of technology and artificial intelligence run amok.