‘Westworld’s’ Latest Technological Trick? Making Anthony Hopkins Young Again!

In the first three episodes of Westworld, we’ve seen A.I. brought to life, a train experience that almost out-magics Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Express, and an Ivanka Trump-lookalike robot. The big technological trick on last night’s Westworld, Episode 3, “The Stray?” HBO made Sir Anthony Hopkins young again!

Hopkins plays Dr. Robert Ford, Westworld’s creative director, on the show. While we have hitherto only seen him as a sage and sly puppet master, quietly developing his own plan for the park’s internal universe, we got a glimpse of his backstory last night. According to Ford, he actually had a partner back in the day named Arnold who was obsessed with making the A.I. creations more human than human. He started to forget that the machines weren’t human and went insane. 
Super cool age-defying visuals aside, the scene dovetailed beautifully with one of the central meditations of the episode: the importance of backstory. We saw how getting a backstory not only transformed Teddy (James Marsden), but helped move a new plot line in the park forward. The importance of backstory to plot development aside, the show also took a moment or two to ruminate on how we let our own backstories determine our characters, our realities, and our truths. We learned that Jeffrey Wright‘s character, Bernard, lost his son and has used his work in the park as a way to escape the pain. Finally, Ford’s flashback provides a new history for the park — one that may or may not be totally truthful — that suddenly puts the “bug” affecting the hosts into a new context.
[Watch Westworld, “The Stray” on HBO Now]