'Westworld' Poster: The Vacation Of The Future Is Almost Here

There's no shortage of film to TV adaptations in the works. Rarely do these television remakes offer fresh and exciting new visions, but that doesn't look to be the case with HBO's Westworld, which was delayed and ran into some production troubles. The series seems to pick up Michael Crichton's original idea and just runs as far as possible with it. Jonathan Nolan, J.J. Abrams, and Lisa Joy's reimagining is expanding on the themes, ideas, and world perhaps not fully explored in Crichton's thin but charming sci-fi film.

We recently saw another stellar trailer for the HBO series. Below, you can now see the Westworld poster.

Welcome to the vacation of the future, as Crichton called it. Westworld is a place populated by artificial intelligence (called "hosts"). In this futuristic theme park, the robots play roles for park guests ("the desires"), but they soon begin to question their purpose and their creators. Rather than simply going haywire and attacking visitors, as they do in the original film, the hosts start to ask questions. Playing the hosts, the desires, and the makers are Sir Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Jimmi Simpson, Ed Harris, and more.

Here's the Westworld poster, depicting a host being constructed:

Admittedly, HBO's poster isn't as cool as the one for Crichton's film, but how could anyone have possibly topped this poster?

The two posters highlight the differences between the movie and the upcoming show. The tone of the original Westworld, at least until its bloody ending, is often light and comical; the makers behind the new Westworld are taking the story in a more serious, grounded direction. Some ideas tie them together, of course, but these two versions of Westworld couldn't look more different. So far, everything we've seen from the series suggests Nolan and Joy are doing what the best remakes tend to do: show us something new. Let's hope that is indeed the case when the sci-fi show premieres next month.

Here's the official synopsis:

The one-hour drama series WESTWORLD (ten episodes) is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged. The cast includes Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Jimmi Simpson, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Ben Barnes, Simon Quarterman, Angela Sarafyan, Luke Hemsworth and Clifton Collins, Jr. Inspired by the motion picture "Westworld," written and directed by Michael Crichton. Production companies, Bad Robot Productions, Jerry Weintraub Productions and Kilter Films in association with Warner Bros. Television. Executive producer/writer/director, Jonathan Nolan; executive producer/writer, Lisa Joy; executive producers, J.J. Abrams, Jerry Weintraub, Bryan Burk.

Westworld premieres on October 2nd at 9 p.m.