There is going to be a whole lot of Westworld coming up in Season 2, and while we’re all very excited for new material, it’s also re-surged my interest in the show. This got me thinking that perhaps there’s some tidbits of trivia that folks don’t know about. Let’s dive in!
1. After they filmed the first six episodes of Westworld, production was then halted so that the writing team and production could focus on how they wanted to put together the final three episodes of the season. That focus lead to one of the best season finales though, in my opinion.
2. The town Sweetwater was named after a farm from the Western “Once Upon a Time in the West” which is writer Jonathan Nolan’s favorite movie.
3. If you see a lot of inspiration in Westworld from some of your favorite games, there is a reason. The writers took heavy inspiration and cues from games like Bioshock Infinite, Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption. This helped the story’s moral aspect moving forward with the writing and it’s very obvious if you re-watch the first season. It’s fantastic.
(HBO)
4. There are several covers to popular songs done in piano that you’ll hear all through Westworld. The most popular one that hit streaming services and saw a spike in sales was ‘Black Hole Sun’ originally done by Soundgarden and covered by Postmodern Jukebox’s Scott Bradlee.
5. In the beginning of production, HBO had reached out to Clint Eastwood to be The Man in Black. Sadly, he turned it down but Ed Harris did a phenomenal job taking up the reigns.
6. Both technicians are named Felix and Sylvester after cartoon characters from vintage animation. Felix is meant to be the more gentle and thoughtful technician while Sylvester seems full of mirth and mistrusting, somewhat mischievous. Why is this? Well, they’re based on Felix the Cat and Sylvester the Cat. Two cats herding the mice of Westworld.
(HBO)
7. Interestingly enough, Westworld was nominated for 22 Emmy’s which is the most of any dramatic television series. Ever. Of all-time. Intensely deserving!
8. Want to go down a rabbit hole? In the final episode, a character (we won’t spoil TOO hard) refers to Westworld as nothing but ‘bones and amber’ which is reminiscent of Jurassic Park, written by Michael Crichton. Who wrote the original 1973 film Westworld? Michael Crichton.
9. One of the characters that ends up meeting his end in Westworld’s first season had only accepted coming on the series so long as he was contracted for one year. Because of this, writers made sure his character would die in the very first season. Man, it would be great if they’d return though…
(HBO)
10. This isn’t Ed Harris‘ first rodeo into roles about adapted and human-built realities. Harris was also in The Truman Show, so you could say he’s a bit used to these concepts by now.
