Westworld | |
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Genre | |
Created by | |
Based on |
Westworld by Michael Crichton |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Ramin Djawadi |
Composer(s) | Ramin Djawadi |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 10 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
|
Producer(s) | Athena Wickham |
Location(s) | |
Cinematography |
|
Editor(s) |
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Running time | 57–91 minutes |
Production company(s) |
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Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | HBO |
Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) |
Audio format | Digital |
Original release | October 2, 2016 | – present
External links | |
Website |
Westworld is an American science fiction western thriller television series created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy for HBO. It is based on the 1973 film of the same name, which was written and directed by American novelist Michael Crichton, and to a lesser extent on the 1976 sequel Futureworld. It is the second TV series based on the two films, the first being the short-lived 1980 series Beyond Westworld. Nolan and Joy serve as executive producers along with J. J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, and Bryan Burk, with Nolan directing the pilot. The first season premiered on October 2, 2016, concluded on December 4, 2016, and consists of ten episodes. In November 2016, HBO renewed the show for a 10-episode second season, planned for a 2018 debut.
The story takes place in the fictional Westworld, a technologically advanced Wild West-themed amusement park populated by androids dubbed "hosts". Westworld caters to high-paying visitors called "guests", who may indulge in whatever they wish within the park, without fear of retaliation from the hosts.
The series' debut on HBO garnered the network's highest viewership ratings for a premiere since the first episode of True Detective in 2014 and Westworld ranks as the most-watched first season of an HBO original series ever.Westworld has received positive reviews by critics, with particular praise for the visuals, story, and acting.
Warner Bros. had been considering a remake of Westworld since the early 1990s and after the departure of studio executive Jessica Goodman in 2011, the project was again under consideration. Jerry Weintraub had been pushing for a remake for years and, after his success with HBO's Behind the Candelabra, he convinced the network to greenlight a pilot. He took the project to Jonathan Nolan and co-writer Lisa Joy, who saw the potential in the concept to make something far more ambitious, and on August 31, 2013, it was announced that premium cable channel HBO had ordered a pilot for a potential television series version of the story, with Nolan, Joy, J. J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub and Bryan Burk as executive producers.