There was an Easter egg cameo by the original ~evil~ Host in “Westworld” and it was unexpectedly awesome
One of the things we love most about Westworld is how deeply layered this amazing show is. And last night’s episode of Westworld, “The Adversary,” is no exception because there was a very subtle, yet totally unexpected and awesome, Easter egg that payed homage to the original film. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, Bernard happened to come across a particularly OLD HOST while searching Sub Level 82. This discovery probably meant nothing to Bernard, but to us it was basically EVERYTHING.
Behold, a cameo by “The Gunslinger,” aka the bad guy (Host, really) from the ORIGINAL Westworld film.
The Gunslinger was the original ~bad guy~ in Michael Crichton’s 1973 film and was played by megastar of his day, Yul Brynner (The King and I). He was pretty much THE best part of the original movie (which, admittedly, is not as expansive as the show, but still impressive in its own right for all the futuristic ideas).
Sure, the gunslinger appeared very out of focus on the show, but there’s no denying the EXACT SAME pose and outfit.
In fact, The Gunslinger’s appearance was so eerily perfect it totally distracted us from what was going on with Bernard’s search for “anomalies” within the park – thank goodness for DVR, right?
And HEY! Here’s a clearer image of the ~replica Brynner~ posted by Nick Marra, one of the special effects artists behind the magic.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, co-showrunner Jonathan Nolan further confirmed the Easter egg,
"It was a little tip of the hat. We didn’t want to feature it too heavily, we don’t want you reading too much into that."
As much as Nolan wants to assure us not to read “too much” into the cameo, we can’t help but KINDA wonder, “What does it mean?!?” Okay, fine, we admit that it probably doesn’t mean anything other than the fact that it’s really cool Westworld’s current creators acknowledge the show’s (and the park’s) old and important past.
Guess they’re just as nostalgic as Dr. Ford is in Sector 17!
We can’t wait to see what other amazing Easter eggs lie in store for us as Westworld rounds out its final four episodes!
