Image Credit: WireImage.com
Ed Harris is coming to series TV: The Abyss and Apollo 13 actor has signed on as the Big Bad in HBO’s Westworld reboot.
The four-time Oscar nominee’s character is called The Man in Black, and is described as “the distillation of pure villainy into one man.” He joins previously cast star — and fellow series television newcomer—Anthony Hopkins, along with Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, and Shannon Woodward.
The Warner Bros.-produced sci-fi pilot produced by J.J Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, and Bryan Burk updates Michael Crichton’s 1973 classic film about a theme park where androids fulfill dark human desires. Harris’ description might sound like he’s playing the Yul Brynner killer-cowboy robot role, but it seems like actor Rodrigo Santoro was tapped for that part—and online production rumors suggest The Man in Black is actually a human character who sadistically abuses the androids.
Harris will soon be seen the feature film Run All Night, starring opposite Liam Neeson and Joel Kinnaman. Harris won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy for his work in HBO’s Game Change. [Reply]
Originally Posted by seaofred:
Could they have multiple host that look the exact same?
I doubt it. There are much more intriguing questions/issues revolving around this particular host in the three roles we've seen her fill.
1st iteration, fake town with parasol: This establishes her as one of the oldest hosts so she's going to have the same potential as Dolores or Maeve.
2nd iteration, William's liaison into the park: Does she know that she's a host in this situation? She very obviously must have a working knowledge of the park and she gives William a vague answer when he asks her. Bernard had a romantic relationship with Theresa. Dolores is having a romantic relationship with William even though he knows she's a host and she does not. They can maintain complex alternative realities. There would be no reason for this iteration to think she's not a human being. In this iteration she is similar to Arnold, or any other hosts that may be working in the park (if there are any).
3rd iteration, in the park encountered by the MiB: Why is she there? Was she pulled in because she's one of the hosts with a sufficiently advanced enough personality matrix to pull off a major role in a narrative created by Ford? If she 'breaks' and recovers her knowledge of the park she can very possibly be a tremendous help to the MiB. [Reply]
The little girl is stuck in my head. She has been interacting with Dolores (and the MiB) in a way that isn't like a normal host. Towards the MiB she did speak in more of an 'in story' way though. With all of this insinuation of Ford playing god, Arnold seems to be the one who is really doing it. Acting as the voice of a god in a bicameral mind. If anything Arnold is God and Ford is Satan. [Reply]
Originally Posted by listopencil:
I doubt it. There are much more intriguing questions/issues revolving around this particular host in the three roles we've seen her fill.
1st iteration, fake town with parasol: This establishes her as one of the oldest hosts so she's going to have the same potential as Dolores or Maeve.
2nd iteration, William's liaison into the park: Does she know that she's a host in this situation? She very obviously must have a working knowledge of the park and she gives William a vague answer when he asks her. Bernard had a romantic relationship with Theresa. Dolores is having a romantic relationship with William even though he knows she's a host and she does not. They can maintain complex alternative realities. There would be no reason for this iteration to think she's not a human being. In this iteration she is similar to Arnold, or any other hosts that may be working in the park (if there are any).
3rd iteration, in the park encountered by the MiB: Why is she there? Was she pulled in because she's one of the hosts with a sufficiently advanced enough personality matrix to pull off a major role in a narrative created by Ford? If she 'breaks' and recovers her knowledge of the park she can very possibly be a tremendous help to the MiB.
I think this blonde host could easily be sent by Ford to encounter the MiB. For whatever reason he chose her but that seems very plausible and doesn't require the alternate timeline. Perhaps it's because Ford is altering host narratives as the MiB advances so it requires him inserting new obstacles in the form of reassigned hosts. [Reply]
Maev referenced Arnold so she accessed his information from somewhere. Is that hidden in her code and she just now accessed it? Or did she just happen to come across the name in archives or something? [Reply]
Originally Posted by mr. tegu:
I think this blonde host could easily be sent by Ford to encounter the MiB. For whatever reason he chose her but that seems very plausible and doesn't require the alternate timeline. Perhaps it's because Ford is altering host narratives as the MiB advances so it requires him inserting new obstacles in the form of reassigned hosts.
Darn it, I keep typing 'Arnold' when I mean 'Bernard.' I meant that she filled a role similar to the one that Bernard has been filling. A host impersonating an employee. But, yes, I agree with you. I would say that I don't think there is anything in the show that requires multiple timelines to explain and I'll be disappointed if it gets thrown in as a plot device. [Reply]
My idea is the Arnold and Benard are one in the same, follow my logic here.
Arnold seems to be an amazing coder as compared to ford. Ford for year programmed the Hosts with "Gates" in their CPU's (brains) to keep Arnold code at bay. Yet the more he programmed them to be life like the more Arnold code has broken out. (at least this is what I think ford thinks)
Benard is Arnold in the sense that his conciseness was downloaded into Benard. And Benard has been subconsciously programming/sending information to his older units 47 (possibly)
This explains why Benard either killed or captured his girl asst. when she found out someone was sending information out of the park. Benard AKA Arnold, knew he could use Thersa as a cover for his real goal of updating these hosts and continuing his work to develop AI.
Ford does not know that Benard has been doing this subconsciously because Benard doesn't know. Ford was telling the truth to Benard when he said hes never made him do something like this before. Because it wasn't him, it was Arnold.
Ford knows something is going on with these older units, yet they are older models made by Arnold so they cannot be tracked. He knows they exist, and are causing problems. So he is developing a narritive to find "Wyatte", and the other "Hosts" that have evolved. (hints why they don't die when shot by other hosts)
Little does he know but Mavee = Wyatte, and her "Army" is the other Host's that Arnold made with updated Code provided by Benard/Arnold so that Ford can not track or control them.
Originally Posted by BleedingRed:
My idea is the Arnold and Benard are one in the same, follow my logic here.
Arnold seems to be an amazing coder as compared to ford. Ford for year programmed the Hosts with "Gates" in their CPU's (brains) to keep Arnold code at bay. Yet the more he programmed them to be life like the more Arnold code has broken out. (at least this is what I think ford thinks)
Benard is Arnold in the sense that his conciseness was downloaded into Benard. And Benard has been subconsciously programming/sending information to his older units 47 (possibly)
This explains why Benard either killed or captured his girl asst. when she found out someone was sending information out of the park. Benard AKA Arnold, knew he could use Thersa as a cover for his real goal of updating these hosts and continuing his work to develop AI.
Ford does not know that Benard has been doing this subconsciously because Benard doesn't know. Ford was telling the truth to Benard when he said hes never made him do something like this before. Because it wasn't him, it was Arnold.
Ford knows something is going on with these older units, yet they are older models made by Arnold so they cannot be tracked. He knows they exist, and are causing problems. So he is developing a narritive to find "Wyatte", and the other "Hosts" that have evolved. (hints why they don't die when shot by other hosts)
Little does he know but Mavee = Wyatte, and her "Army" is the other Host's that Arnold made with updated Code provided by Benard/Arnold so that Ford can not track or control them.
Crazy I know, what do you think?
I think Maeve is in the present time, and is one of Arnold's originals possessing unique coding that aids the emergence of sentient thought. I think she is going to wreck the park. I think Dolores is Wyatt in the present (and has been part of a story loop all along... just 30 years ago). The Wyatt story is based on a real event (according to Ford when programming present day Teddy).
Rest of thoughts in spoiler.
Spoiler!
I think Dolores is Wyatt. I think she acted on her own to wipe out that picturesque town (30 years ago) either by her own actions (she gained sentience and realized they are all machines), and hence why she was shooting herself in the head before William stopped her, or at the behest of Arnold to stop Ford from doing something/making the machines into toys for entertainment instead of something bigger.
I think William/Dolores story is 30 years in the past, and that William is possibly the black hat played by Harris (present day). I think William's character arc is from good guy to bad guy, and that he found his true self inside the park, and it is the only place he can be himself. Outside the park he dives into his work/empire, but has become nearly robotic himself, alienating his family and mentally abusing them (true self is leaking out). I am curious what he does for a living. [In the first episode he says a big incident happened 30 years ago in the park btw]
When black hat and Dolores interact (when Dolores is in her farm girl loop in the early episodes) and she runs away, I don't think we have seen her since or we do, but she is stuck reliving the past until she shows up as Wyatt in the new story line created by Ford. Dolores will be the worthy adversary that our villain is seeking/deserves.
Something else that has bothered me, and so I looked online today, but flies. Present day has flies, and the past doesn't. Or it seems to be working that way. However, my subtitles still say "flies buzzing" even though there aren't any on screen.
Originally Posted by BigChiefTablet:
My co-worker is convinced Bernard is Arnold. Could be.
I think he may be a mechanical representation of Arnold. However, I have been growing increasingly curious if Arnold is an actual human being. Could Arnold be a computer program or Ford's first creation that became sentient. Maybe Ford put his program into a body to help him with the park. Then Arnold killed himself burning the church down around himself.
Maybe he reprogrammed Arnold into current BernardV2.0, and we just have to wait until Arnold pops back up inside Bernard's mind. [Reply]
Who were the people stalking up on MiB, Teddy, and Once Hot now Crazy Lady in the desert? Were those escaped hosts from Roman World and (Whatever Else) World? Hosts that have achieved sentience there come to free the hosts still trapped in Westworld? The big guy Teddy and MiB took down, there was a schematic for him on the wall of one of the working cubes earlier in the show....
(I ask because it looks like a Centurion pulling a sword as they close in on the three of them. A little out of place there, no?) [Reply]
