As a saloon madame turned rebel upriser, Thandie Newton’s “Westworld” character Maeve Millay had a very busy first season discovering the truth about her reality.
That reality, by the way, entailed her being a lab-engineered “host” at a theme park for rich and creepy humans living out sexual and violent fantasies against a classic Western backdrop.
Maeve’s enlightenment about the world and its creators inspires her to escape the park and gain as much insight as possible about the real world — a metaphor Newton said many fans could apply to the real life political climate.
“We’re living in a society where those who hold the information are those who have all the power. We’re realizing that’s why we’re told, ‘Oh, it’s fake news.’ Information is power, and if you’re led to believe that the information that’s out there is no good, that’s taken power away from you,” Newton told the latest issue of TheWrap’s Emmy magazine.
“But Maeve is the classic example of ‘Knowledge is power.’ The more she learns, the more she knows there is to learn. I think that’s one of the reasons why people were so inspired by her,” she said.
Watch our full interview with Newton in the clip above, and see exclusive photos shot by Matt Sayles at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel below.