The American science-fiction Western thriller TV series “Westworld” had just had its premiere season on HBO and based on the reviews of the critics after its 10-episode run, the show has remarkably fared well.
Metacritic gave the TV series a high mark of 74%, which is considered better than very good or close to excellent since a review of 50% is considered good enough.
Rotten Tomatoes gave “Westworld” an even better review of 89% while IMDb afforded the TV series a score of 9.1, with 10 being the highest.
Indeed, the husband and wife team of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who created the TV series based on the film of the same title released in 1973, have come out with a winner in “Westworld” and HBO officials are smiling considering that their flagship TV series “Game of Thrones” will have its penultimate seventh season this year.
“Westworld” the film was written and directed by American novelist Michael Crichton, who was known for other popular novels that turned into films like “Jurassic Park,” its sequel, “The Lost World,” the ape movie “Congo,” and many others.
The original movie even had a sequel entitled “Futureworld” which came out in 1976 although it did not get the same interest and hype as the first film.
In addition to Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, the other executive producers of “Westworld” are J.J. Abrams, the director of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Jerry Weintraub, and Bryan Burk.
Nolan also directed the first episode that premiered on October 2, 2016. The TV series had its run on HBO until December 4, 2016.
It was in November when HBO decided to renew the show for another 10-episode second season but instead of a fall airing in 2017, “Westworld” will air early in 2018.
A technologically advanced theme park
The story of “Westworld” takes place in the fictional Westworld, a technology advanced themed amusement park populated by androids dubbed as hosts.
The park caters to high-paying visitors called as newcomers or guests, who can do whatever they wish within the park without fear of retaliation from the hosts because they are paying customers.
Based on its pilot episode ratings, “Westworld” achieved the network’s highest viewership ratings for a premiere since the first episode of the American psychological thriller “True Detective” aired on the cable channel in 2014.
In fact, “Westworld” ranks as the most-watched first season of an HBO original series ever, even better than the first season of the now very popular “Game of Thrones.” As per the reviews from critics, the TV series was particularly lauded for its visuals, story, and acting.
While its first season ratings were not quite as impressive for the network’s as other behemoth hits, its numbers were on par with, if not better than the ratings of “Game of Thrones” earned during its first season on the air.
More importantly, the show already has an avid fanbase with an online community that even guessed some of the big Season 1 twists before they happened, notes Cinema Blend.
Blowing the sets up
Jonathan Nolan has also said that they intend to blow up the sets of “Westworld” for Season 2 but not in the literal sense. There will be no explosion whatsoever.
What Nolan meant is that he and his wife Lisa Joy wants to move beyond the loops of the hosts and into different realms of growth. They also don’t want to deal within the confines of the same sets year in and year out.
In a recent interview, Nolan said that most TV series build their sets, hire their cast, and when it works out just fine, the producers and director just want to hang out in that moment and enjoy that moment with that iteration of the story that they are telling.
But they want something different. He said that they never had any intention of staying in one place, explaining that they don’t want to shoot on the same set for 10 years. Nolan pointed out that they want to blow the sets up and move on to another piece of the story.