What Is ‘Westworld’ About? A Short Explainer

HBO’s latest attempt to own your Sunday nights is part sci-fi, part Western

westworld vitruvian man leonardo da vinci hbo

It’s not your fault if you’re totally confused by the advertising for “Westworld,” which premieres on HBO Sunday.

The billboards for the series, an update of a 1973 film starring Yul Brenner, feature a metallic-looking female figure reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” — the name of that image of a man in perfect proportion within a circle — with Western mountains as a backdrop. Which tells you… nothing.

At least, it tells you nothing about the plot of the show. It actually tells you a lot about the ideas behind it. I’ve seen the first four episodes, and I think the show is a lot more interesting for the ideas it explores than for the story it tells, at least so far.

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