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Season 2 of Westworld presents more challenges for the human race as AI further develops
IT’S a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the birth of a new form of life on Earth. A smart combination of the sci-fi and western genres, the first season of Westworld, which debuted in 2016, received 22 Emmy nominations last year.
It won five, including for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media within a Scripted Program and Outstanding Special Visual Effects. Created for TV by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who are also executive producers, the series is based on the film written by Michael Crichton.
The returning cast for Season 2 includes Evan Rachel Wood (as Dolores), Thandie Newton (Maeve), Ed Harris (Man in Black), Jeffrey Wright (Bernard) and James Marsden. Below, Marsden talks about his character in the new season.
WHERE DO WE FIND TEDDY IN SEASON 2?
We’ve set the characters up, we’ve set the world up, now, open the floodgates. And, you know, turn them loose. It’s going to be a lot for Teddy — he needs to catch up really fast. I keep using this like analogy — they give us this emotional piano, where you have all 88 keys, and at the beginning of the first season, we’re sort of playing chopsticks in the middle.
Then Evan and Thandie start to branch out and are, like, oh, what is that note? Teddy’s still sort of in the middle. But then, very quickly, he has access to all those keys. But what’s going to be really interesting is that now he is seeing the world with his new eyes, and it’s a rebirth to some degree. And those are the questions that this show asks: Who are you, who do you want to be when you have free will, and are you making the right decision when no one’s looking?
IT WAS MENTIONED THAT TEDDY IS NO LONGER NECESSARILY THE ARCHETYPE ANY LONGER
He was that sweet archetypal good guy cowboy, which sometimes isn’t that sexy. We don’t want to pretend like there aren’t dark crevices in the back of our minds or that there isn’t ugliness in the world. It’s not always easy to make the right decisions, sometimes that can be hard, but if you choose to follow the path of decency and goodness, that will always somehow put you in a better place.
That was Teddy’s coding, from the beginning. I do think his soul is in the right place and that’s going to be challenged this season.
EVAN HAS HAD SOME QUITE EXTREME EXISTENTIAL CRISES IN MAKING
THE SHOW. WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCES?
I can’t go there, psychologically, because it messes me up. I can’t ask: what’s past that star? And then, where does that end, and when that ends, what’s behind that? But as long as, within our existence, we can understand or be open to maybe the mysteries, and accept that there are things we will never understand, that is a start.
Catch Westworld on Mondays at 9am and 10pm on HBO (Astro Channel 411/HD 431) and HBO On Demand (Astro GO).
And then exercise restraint and discipline when it needs to be exercised. There are way smarter people out there than me that know a lot more about the AI stuff. But one of the ironies, and what I think is really interesting about this show, is that it’s supposed to plant a little fear in your system about the convergence of AI and humanity, and it becoming indecipherable and indistinguishable. It’s supposed to make you fear the ethics of it all, and the potential that they have to grow and continue to multiply and grow their intelligence, and it just makes us feel dumb and like we’re going to be obsolete.
But then I look at this show, and I look at the humanity that Evan and Thandie bring to these performances, and the humanity that’s brought to the show through these incredible writers. And that gives me hope for humanity. People respond and have empathy for these hosts because they’re exhibiting more humanity than the humans are.
DOES IT FEEL SPOOKILY PRESCIENT THAT THIS SHOW, WHICH IS ABOUT ROBOTS BECOMING SENTIENT, IS COMING OUT AT THE EXACT SAME TIME THAT WE ARE, AS A SOCIETY, INVOKING THE WORD ‘WOKE’? CAN JONATHAN AND LISA PREDICT THE FUTURE?
One thing about their minds, nothing feels like it’s an accident. It’s a hard show to work on. And it’s not for the faint-hearted. There’s a certain amount of chaos involved.
This season we were like, wait, we thought we had ironed out all the wrinkles and like got this well-oiled engine running. But no, they’re like: This is going to change, this is going to change, and you can do this to this. You’re like a doctor on call — they’ll call you at one o’clock in the afternoon and say, can you be here in 30 minutes, we’re going to shoot that scene. And I kind of feel like they’ve constructed this chaos to sort of keep everybody off the scent. You’re shifting everything around and kind of sending the hounds off the trail just to keep everything a surprise and a secret.
I just feel like they are so far ahead of the game. They’ve got it all figured out. And as an actor, you’re like, sure, I’ll sit, and I’ll strip down completely naked and sit opposite Anthony Hopkins and say this stuff. Normally you’d be like, okay, wait, am I protected? We’re in really vulnerable positions, especially Thandie and Evan.
But it’s a testament to the showrunners, because they’ve made us feel really safe and really important as part of helping facilitate this vision. It’s a hard thing to like dive into saying, I surrender my creative control, and I’m just on board with you.
BUT DON’T YOU THINK THAT’S GOOD FOR US ALL — TO SURRENDER CONTROL? THE IDEA THAT WE
HAVE CONTROL IS ALL AN ILLUSION ANYWAY.
It’s true. I know. And you’re humbled by that — things that are much bigger than you. Those are the rewards of working on this show.