Shhhh. Hear how quiet it is? That’s because all the buzz of speculation trying to figure out what’s happening on season one of Westworld has ended. The actors, writers, and producers on the show had a hell of time talking about the show without spilling any beans.
In an long interview article on IndieWire, the people involved with the hit HBO scifi series discuss working on a show where plot information is unevenly distributed and specific twists need to be heavily guarded. Like the fans watching their work, the cast tried to figure out what what was going on, too, via a group text. Here’s Jimmi Simpson, who plays William:
“We were all just speculating. Shannon and Evan seemed to talk the most and have the most in depth reasons for everything. Half the time they’d be totally right, sometimes they’d be half-right and sometimes they’d be completely wrong.”
Jeffery Wright was ahead of the curve:
“I was a bit of a cheat, relative to everyone else, because I had prior knowledge,” Wright said. “So everyone else was a little in the dark, and I did my best to keep them there. It wasn’t only until the reveals were made in the scripts that I kind of joined in on the text chain.”
Now that it’s all done and some fan theories surrounding the show have been proven correct, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Jeffrey Wright and others discuss walking the fine line between candor and preserving the mystery of a show like Westworld. There were rules about dealing with fan theories in interviews and when talking with fans. For his part, the article cites Wright using particular language to preserve the nature of that specific arc.
For example, Wright remembered talking about Bernard specifically as a “computer programmer” instead of a “man.” He didn’t want to give away anything, but at the same time, he didn’t want to lie to the fans who were putting all this time and effort into solving the maze that was “Westworld” Season 1.
The whole IndieWire piece is a good read; go check it out.