‘Westworld’ Showrunners Ready To Handle Controversial Reactions: ‘We Expect The Show To Be Thought-Provoking’

With its honest approach to sexual violence and the perversion of human nature, HBO’s new sci-fi series “Westworld” is sure to generate a lot of controversial reactions from audiences.

Some might rave its bravado, while others might not be so kind in their reviews. But whatever the case, show creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy are ready to handle whatever controversial reactions viewers might have on the show.

“We expect the show to be thought-provoking, because it’s thought-provoking for us,” Joy told Wired. “When I play Grand Theft Auto, I’m such a nerdy little law abider because I’ve always had this active imagination in which I sympathize and empathize with things. When other people turn off the game, they don’t think, ‘Oh my goodness, I just ran over four pedestrians, how terrible. I wonder if their family has health insurance?’ Now, as technology develops, you start to wonder: Where is that line where it becomes immoral not to have empathy, even if you know that these creatures are artificial?”

Her husband Nolan agreed. He said the show is all about figuring out how people behave when no one is looking or keeping score. But there’s no such things as complete abandon, said Nolan, because “you have to deal in these transgressions.”

At the same time, the couple took great care in handling violence and sexual acts. Before shooting each scene, they ask whether they are doing it in a fair way and not gratuitously.

At the same time, both Nolan and Joy hope people would end up loving the series, because they have big plans for it in the future.

“It wasn’t about getting the first 10 [episodes] done, it was about mapping out what the next five or six years are going to be,” James Marsden, who plays cowboy Teddy Flood, told Entertainment Weekly. “We wanted everything in line so that when the very last episode airs and we have our show finale, five or seven years down the line, we knew how it was going to end the first season – that’s the way [show creator] Jonah [Nolan] and [executive producer J.J. Abrams] operate.”

“Westworld” will be released on HBO on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 9 p.m. ET, reported Variety.