News: HBO's Westworld Halts Production to Finish Scripts

HBO's highly anticipated and ambitious sci-fi drama series Westworld, a new spin on Michael Crichton's classic 1973 film about androids gone haywire at an amusement park in the near future, has shut down for two months so that executive producers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy can finish the final four scripts.

Filming was originally scheduled to wrap in November, but is now set to resume the last of filming in March.

HBO says in a statement: "As we head into the final phase of production on Westworld we've made the decision to take a brief hiatus in order to get ahead of the writing." The show will still premiere the series sometime this year.

The new take on the concept is described as a "dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin." Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, and Thandie Newton star while J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk also executive produce.

The nature of the series apparently allows the actors playing androids to be killed off and return as completely different characters — a creative choice that has drawn a top cast.

Source: Variety