UPDATES with Ben Barnes taking over role of Logan: A bit of Once Upon A Time, House of Cards, Pacific Rim and Borgen is coming to the HBO series about theme park robots gone wrong. With Miranda Otto having exited Westworld, the series has a replacement plus a trio of new castings to join Ed Harris, Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden and Thandie Newton.
The biggest shift in these castings for the reboot of the 1973 pic is the addition of Sidse Babbett Knudsen to take over the role Otto played in the pilot. Lord Of The Rings actress Otto since has joined Homeland’s upcoming fifth season. A regular on Danish political drama Borgen, which is seen on PBS here, Knudsen now will play Theresa Cullen, the pivotal operations head of Westworld.
Eion Bailey was initially cast as Logan on Westworld, but a scheduling conflict emerged before he began work, and Ben Barnes (The Chronicles Of Narnia) is now moving forward in the role. A self-indulgent ladies man who is a return visitor to Westworld, the character is well versed in inhaling all the pleasures that it has to offer. At the same time, Logan is looking out for his Westworld-newbie friend William, who comes to see the park in a whole new way over time. Jimmi Simpson, who has been a presence on House Of Cards the past two seasons as troubled tech wiz Gavin Orsay, plays the William character. Pacific Rim actor Clifton Collins Jr will play Lawrence, a sly criminal who really knows his way around Westworld.
Scheduled to air in 2016, Westworld is from J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, Jonathan Nolan, writer Lisa Joy plus Warner Bros TV and Jerry Weintraub Productions.
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