Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood are taking their talents to premium cable. The pair signed to star in “Westworld,” J.J. Abrams and Jerry Weintraub‘s forthcoming HBO pilot based on Michael Crichton’s 1973 film, TheWrap has confirmed.
The original film, which starred Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin, was based around deadly robots at a Wild West-themed amusement park. In the series Hopkins is set to star as Dr. Robert Ford, the theme park’s unconventional creative director, while Wood will co-star as a farm girl named Dolores Abernathy, who may or may not be a robot herself.
The network previously described the one-hour pilot, co-written and directed by “Person of Interest’s” Jonathan Nolan, as “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin” when they green-lit its production in August 2013.
This isn’t Wood’s first dance with HBO, of course, as she was previously nominated for an Emmy for her role in the network’s 2011 mini-series “Mildred Pierce.” She’s is repped by CAA.
Hopkins, meanwhile, won an Oscar for his portrayal of another doctor, Hannibal Lecter, in “Silence of the Lambs,” but this would mark his first prominent regular role in a TV series. He’s repped by UTA and manager Rick Nicita.
This robots-gone-wrong series, coincidentally enough, is produced by Bad Robot Productions, Jerry Weintraub Productions, Warner Bros. Television and Kilter Films.
The “Westworld” pilot was co-written and co-executive produced by Lisa Joy (“Burn Notice.”) Kathy Lingg and Athena Wickham are listed as producers.
Film Divider first reported on the casting story.