In 1973, novelist Michael Crichton wrote and directed Westworld, a movie about a futuristic theme park filled with androids (including the gunslinger memorably played by Yul Brynner) who broke away from their programming and massacred the guests.
40 years later, Westworld is about to reopen.
Deadline is reporting that J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot has sold a potential “Westworld” TV series to HBO; which has already given it a pilot commitment. The new “Westworld” is being written by Jonathan Nolan (the creator of “Person of Interest”) and former “Burn Notice” writer Lisa Joy with Nolan set to direct the pilot as well.
HBO’s “Westworld” will be “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.” This will actually be the second TV series based on Westworld. CBS ran five episodes of “Beyond Westworld” in 1980 as a follow-up to the film’s theatrical sequel, Futureworld.
“Westworld” is being produced by Warner Bros. TV and Bad Robot, with Abrams, Nolan and Joy serving as executive producers alongside Jerry Weintraub and Bryan Burk. This is the first cable TV project for Bad Robot; which previously produced “Alias” and “Lost” for ABC, “Fringe” for Fox and “Person of Interest” on CBS.
