Westworld
HBO's successful sci-fi drama “Westworld” has been renewed for a second season. HBO

It took over 20 years before HBO’s sci-fi series “Westworld” came to fruition, so expectations are quite high for the show.

James Marsden, the actor who plays Teddy Flood, told Entertainment Weekly that it took producers that long to bring the series to life because they weren’t just concerned about the first season. They wanted a long-running series that will wow audiences for years to come.

“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,” said Marsden. “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.”

“They’re making sure all the ducks are in the row. And it’s a testament to Jonah and Lisa [Joy] and HBO that we got them right, especially the last three scripts. They could have rushed them and get spread too thin. They got them right, and when they were right, we went and shot them,” the actor added.

Meanwhile, Nolan told Collider that the series hopes to ask audiences some questions that would make them reflect on their moralty: who are we if no one is watching? How far do we go to fulfill our desires? Will we destroy others just to get ahead?

“It’s questioning where does life begin,” Nolan explained. "What characterizes the importance of life, whether it is a human who is dictated by biological impulses, and neuron synapsing, and the double helixes of DNA entwined within our bodies, or whether it’s an artificial being that’s coded with zeros and ones.”

“Westworld” will be released on HBO on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 9 p.m. ET, reported Variety. Aside from Marsden, other stars of the show include Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton, among many others.

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