James Marsden will trade in his X-Men Cyclops mutant power for a six-gun in the upcoming HBO remake of Westworld.
The first film came out in 1973 and starred the great Yul Brynner as a gunslinging robot gone haywire shooting anything that moved.
In this new venture Marsden will star in the pilot episode as Teddy Flood. Is he a real human being or one of the western town’s human life-like AI replicas? The one big difference between this television drama and the 40plus-year old film is the story’s focus. This one will zero-in more on the robots and what drives them.
The series, based on the original 1970‘s Michael Crighton creation, will be produced by J.J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and Jerry Weintraub. The pilot will be penned by Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight) and Lisa Joy (Burn Notice).
Other actors on board for the project are Jeffrey Wright (Boardwalk Empire), Rodrigo Santoro (300), Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs, Thor) and Evan Rachel Wood (True Blood). Wood will be Marsden’s love interest.
Westworld in currently in pre-production with shooting set to begin this month. The series is slated for a 2015 debut on HBO.
