'Westworld' Season 2 Spoilers: Hiroyuki Sanada Joins Cast, Samurai World Confirmed?
Could "Westworld" season 2 feature a Samurai World? The casting of Hiroyuki Sanada ("The Last Ship") seems to suggest the possibility.
The actor will be in multi-episodes of "Westworld" season 2 as Musashi, who is likely based on the 16th century samurai Musashi Miyamoto. Reports indicate that the character is part of the newly-released Funko toys for "Westworld" but Musashi has yet to be featured in the actual series.
Viewers of the HBO show might recall a brief scene in the finale that showed an SW logo to indicate that there's also a Samurai World in the theme park. In the movie version that ran in theaters in 1973, a Samurai World and a Roman World actually existed along Westworld.
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How Sanada's character will figure in season 2 hasn't been determined. Speculations are that like in the film, the robots or android's rebellion could likely breach the barriers separating the different world.
Musashi could end up in Westworld as a result of the breach or the show could focus on exploring a new environment altogether. Creator Jonathan Nolan did say that the theme park isn't exclusive to just one setting.
"There are other places here," Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter. "This park contains multitudes. We hope to explore that in the seasons going forward."
Nolan and co-creator Lisa Joy also hinted that they will be working with more Asian actors and are excited about the possibility of the series expanding.
Meanwhile, the second season of "Westworld" has no confirmed air date so far but HBO plans the show to return in 2018. "Westworld" debuted in 2016 and Nolan and Joy said they won't rush putting together the follow-up seasons, hence the year-long gap.
"The production is enormously challenging and ambitious, and so is the writing," Nolan said. "So we said very early on that we wouldn't be able to turn this around every year."
