SAN DIEGO – The Old West gives way to a futuristic landscape — and a throwback to Nazis in World War II — for HBO’s “Westworld” in a new trailer that debuted at Comic-Con Saturday.
The first look at the third season — which premieres next year and is dubbed “The New World” — showcased more of the interactions between humans and the awakening robotic hosts such as Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores, sprawling new-edge coolness, lots of violence and a debuting Aaron Paul, who plays a construction worker named Caleb.
“I am such a psychotic fan of ‘Westworld,’ ” said the “Breaking Bad” star at a panel for the HBO show. The first time he walked on set, he was “shellshocked and starstruck and all the things.”
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Caleb has a “very helpful” red robot named George and is both a little white hat and black hat, Paul added. “You’ll see very early on that Caleb has a very complicated past, as we all do. He’s just trying to survive in the world and he has to do bad things.”
And it’s the kind of dude who is Paul’s forte. “I just like to get beat up, dragged through the mud a little bit,” he said. “I always gravitate toward characters who make me feel very deep-rooted, complicated emotions. I’m not afraid to open up my heart and feel the the pain (and) the love these characters are going through.”
In creating this new world, executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy aim to show a new view of the future. “My brother made me watch ‘Blade Runner’ every week” when he and his sibling, Oscar-nominated director Christopher, were kids, Jonathan Nolan said. “We wanted something different.”
“The thing about dystopias is they can look pretty beautiful. Just because the world is corrupt on the inside doesn’t mean it can’t look polished on the outside.”
The robotic hosts’ story lines in the show are about autonomy and free will, though Tessa Thompson (who plays Charlotte Hale) said she loves the experience of being a part of something where you have a tremendous amount of trust … and there’s things that you’re not entirely in control of.
“It’s fun to be controlled by masters like Lisa and Jonah who do cool, twisted stuff to you,” Thompson added.
“Westworld” reflects the gray areas and changing moral code of the real world, “and that’s kind of why I love Dolores,” Wood said. “It’d be difficult for me to do what she does, but I understand why she’s doing it. We’re having to examine these things that we’ve taken for granted and pick them apart again and see things for what they are if we can. She encapsulates all of those things.
“She is constantly growing and discovering new things about herself and the world,” Wood added about her character this season. “Even though she is very together and a thousand steps ahead of everyone else, she’s still taking in information and growing.”
Paul reported that they’re in the middle of filming the new “Westworld” season. “Each episode and each script we read, the onion is peeled back for us as actors learning more about our characters,” he said. “People years ago would look at now is a crazy future that shouldn’t exist, but Season 3 of this show is right around the corner (in reality), which is insane.”
