Gripping Westworld Teaser Trailer Stars James Marsden, Evan Rachel Wood and Anthony Hopkins

Posted on August 12, 2015

HBO has released the first teaser trailer for Westworld and it looks amazing. The eight episode series is based loosely on the 1973 Michael Crichton film of the same name. The screenplay was written by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy.

J.J. Abrams is producing the series which stars Ben Barnes, Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Simon Quarterman, and Ed Harris. Anthony Hopkins plays Dr. Robert Ford, the director of a high tech amusement park in which guests can live out their fantasies. The park is staffed with lifelike robots which will comply with the guests' wishes.

A couple decides to take the Old West adventure. But when the park's central computer breaks down, the robots do as they please -- and what pleases them is not being nice to the guests. Yul Brynner played the Gunslinger who stalks the vacationing couple in the original film. This time around, Ed Harris is the gunslinger run amok.

The trailer opens with Evan Rachel Wood's character, Dolores Abernathy, being interviewed by an unknown male voice. A fly walks over her face, but she does not react which indicates she is one of the robots. The voice asks her where she is. She replies, "In a dream." When asked if she would like to wake up from the dream, she replies, "Yes. I’m terrified."

The questioner then tells her she must give the correct answer to wake up. The question is, "Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?" HBO has indicated that the show will focus more on the lifelike androids that work in the park and the mysterious corporation that controls them. James Marsden and Thandie Newton also play androids. They can be killed and resurrected as new characters, which is no doubt one reason so many great actors got on board.

HBO says the series is "a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin." If the series is half as good as the trailer, it's going to be totally addicting. Take a look: