'Westworld' star talks about fearing his character's death 'all the time'
Photo by Ricky Middlesworth/Grooming by Stephanie Puleio/ Styling by Philippe Uter
The hit sci-fi drama "Westworld" carried on the tradition that HBO's "Game of Thrones" firmly established: killing off significant characters.
And according to star Leonardo Nam, that made for a pretty nervous time while shooting the show.
"Oh, are you kidding me? All the time," Nam responded when Business Insider recently asked if he had any fear of his character being killed off during the first season. "When I look back, that's one of the things that did make it exciting. The way that television and these creators work right now is you never really know what's gonna happen. You think you know, and then they have something else in store."
A remake of a 1973 film of the same name, HBO's "Westworld" revolves around an amusement park populated by human-like robots, referred to as hosts, that provide wealthy visitors countless adventures in a Wild West setting. But the robots begin to malfunction, which causes some major havoc for the humans who enjoy the park and those who run it.
John P. Johnson/HBO
The potential for death among those humans who work for Westworld is pretty great. The safety of the guests is ensured by several safeguards (with some exceptions) that don't necessarily extend to the park's employees.
In addition to to the fear of having their characters killed off, Nam describes a unique predicament for the "Westworld" actors: wondering whether their characters are humans or actually hosts.
"As the episode's being written, we'd all talk on set, in passing, and we'd be like, 'Are you a host? Because last week, I thought you were a human. Now I think you're a robot. Am I a robot or am I human?'" Nam said. "People were saying that all the time. It was a big bonding moment for everyone, because no one really knew what was happening with the overarching story."
The extra human-vs.-robot twist of "Westworld" actually helps the actors deal with the potential death of their characters.
"On the flip side, the benefit of it all is everyone can come back in different forms," Nam told us.
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