HBO Releases New Trailer for Controversial ‘Westworld’ (Video)

‘Mature’ version of preview suggests sex and violence to come in series starring Anthony Hopkins and Evan Rachel Wood

HBO has released a new trailer for “Westworld,” its controversial new sci-fi series.

Based on the 1973 film by Michael Crichton, “Westworld” is billed as “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.” The original film featured robots in a Western-themed amusement park run amok. The trailer looks to be the same as one shown to critics earlier this month at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills. It was shown for the first time to the public Sunday night on HBO.

The series, which premieres next month, has already attracted plenty of controversy. Production was suspended earlier this year in order to “get ahead of the writing.” Later, producers of the HBO series told actors’ unions that they wouldn’t back down from plans to shoot graphic sexual scenes even after officials warned members about the project.

Extras for “Westworld” were asked to sign contracts agreeing to “perform genital-to-genital touching; have your genitals painted; simulate oral sex with hand-to-genital touching; contort to form a table-like shape while being fully nude,” and “other assorted acts that the project may require.”

The series stars include Hopkins, Wood, Ed Harris, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Steven Ogg, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Ben Barnes, Jimmi Simpson, Clifton Collins Jr., Simon Quarterman, Angela Sarafyan, and Tessa Thompson. 

The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television, J.J. Abrams‘ Bad Robot, Jerry Weintraub Productions and Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s Kilter Films.

The one-hour drama series kicks off its ten-episode season Sunday, Oct. 2, 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.

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