Trailer in there
Beyond Star Wars, Abrams is executive producing HBO's ambitious sci-fi Western Westworld, another reboot of a cult favorite. And it may be his longest running passion project.
"Westworld is one of those things I've wanted to work on for so long," he says. "I had a meeting probably 21 years ago with Michael Crichton [who wrote and directed the 1973 original film] about doing this. And it's taken along time to get this going."
That's continuing to prove true. In January, production on the series shut down temporarily to get ahead on writing. At the SXSW panel he shared with filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, though, Abrams showed the audience a trailer for Westworld. (HBO has still not given a premiere date for the series.)
Abrams says he's actually thankful to the network for not rushing production, as he feels this story talks about many things that are relevant in today's world.
"At the heart of Westworld is this story of consciousness and oppression and discover," he says. "It's one of the projects I feel most grateful and lucky to be a part of. What [the directorial team has] done is so stunning and cool and they're not rushing it because of business matters and the network is giving them the time. That is never a bad move."
Ben barnes
Ed Harris
Anthony Hopkins
James Marsden
Evan Rachel Wood
Shannon Woodward
Ingrid Berdal
just to name a few