HBO Westworld has had no shortage of casting changes over its first three seasons. Although it still has some of its original cast, like Evan Rachel Wood, Thandiwe Newton and Jeffrey Wright, much of its characters from the first two seasons disappeared once the series left the titular park. Surprisingly, one of the OG cast members is making a comeback for season four.
During the ATX festival this weekend, series co-creator Lisa Joy revealed that James Marsden would return, surprising everyone on the show’s panel by appearing alongside Joy and other cast members, including Wright, Wood and Luke Hemsworth (Ashley Stubbs). “Sometimes you have to leave to come back,” joked Marsden. In the first two seasons, he played park cowboy Teddy Flood, who was deeply in love with Dolores (Wood) before committing suicide after witnessing his theme park guests murder. After being away from the show for so long, he’s excited to return and inhabit this sci-fi world once again. “It’s an amazing thing to be a part of it and see where the story goes,” he continued. “From the start, I didn’t know where this was all going to go, but I’m glad to see it now.”
With the show now in the real world, Marsden will play a currently unnamed character who serves as a love interest for Wood’s new character, Christina. Dolores died in the previous season’s finale, but Joy loved working with Wood so much that she knew she wanted to keep the actor around. She and co-creator Jonathan Nolan told Wood about Dolores’ ending during production on season three, and the trio discussed what it meant for the actor going forward. With the promise that she would return, Wood recalled the conversation as follows: “‘You’ll look a lot like Evan Rachel Wood,’ but I’m not me.”
We got a brief glimpse of Christina near the end of the first season four trailer in May. Wood went on to describe her as “a normal woman living in a big city just trying to make it as a writer.” She also added that “nothing ever happens to her [Christina]”, which means there is shit Absolutely about to come down for her. It’s currently unclear how Christina will connect with the rest of the show’s cast, but it will no doubt draw Marsden’s new hunk into the orbit of her misadventures. And that’s assuming Christina is as new as they say. With how much Westworld loves trying to outsmart her audience, this character could easily be Dolores doing a long scam.
by Westworld The fourth season will premiere on HBO and HBO Max on June 26. Take a look at the spooky new key art below.
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