That automated piano kicks into gear. The notes begin to play. And the blood slowly appears…
As per usual with HBO, the song choice couldn’t be more spot-on if it had tried, with the action set unironically to ‘I’ve Gotta Be Me” by Sammy Davis Jr., and we’re thrown into the thick of it with the survivors of the first season, and the already dwindling numbers of those still trapped inside the park.
Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) and Teddy (James Marsden) are hunting any guests they can find, going on a full murderous spree with anyone unfortunate enough to cross their paths.
Bernard or Arnold or whoever he is now (Jeffrey Wright) is out and about, surveying the damage, and teaming up with security forces, but to what end?
William/The Man In Black (Ed Harris) is bloodied but delighted that his true vision of Westworld seems to becoming a reality, as the “hosts” finally give him the challenge he’s been searching for.
Maeve (Thandie Newton) is stuck on the other side of the looking glass, in the decimated operations headquarters – that she, y’know, helped decimate herself – and seems to have teamed up with everyone’s lest favourite Westworld character. She does have a gun though, so maybe she’ll kill him ASAP. We can be hope…
Clip via New Trailer Buzz
There are a lot of characters from the first season that haven’t appeared here, and we’re sure there has yet to be a few key major cast additions to help even out the massive culling from last year’s climax (SPOILERS: There is a massive, Anthony Hopkins-shaped hole to be filled in here by someone).
At the San Diego Comic Con this weekend, where the second season trailer debuted, Wood got very emotional talking about the power of her character’s transformation (via Time):
“I knew I wasn’t going to stay this damsel in distress. I was going to become strong. But I didn’t fully grasp how deep it was going to go. I realised that I was sort of at the forefront of this responsibility, and I sort of had a panic attack around the fourth episode because I realised what was on my shoulders.
“As women a lot of time you feel like your wings have been clipped and you’re not being represented the way you want to. And this it felt like someone gave me fucking condor wings, and I just got to take off.”
We can’t wait to see what twists and turns the park has in store when we get to make a return visit in 2018.
