The sheer volume of violence, both sexual and not, heaped upon the female characters in season 1 of Westworld generated quite a lot of backlash. Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton defended the choices the show made, saying they were not gratuitous and appropriate for the story being told.
But, in season 2, it sounds like the story is going to make a sharp left turn — and render a lot of the nudity unnecessary.
In a panel at the Tribeca Film Festival, series creator Lisa Joy addressed nudity in the upcoming season 2, Entertainment Weekly reports, saying, "In both our filming and our cutting, we’re not lingering on parts that aren’t essential to the story. What is essential to the story is that feeling of both perfection and tragedy. They’re sitting there, literally being objectified, treated as objects to be operated on and talked about while they’re right there in the room...It’s an essential part of the story, and it’s guided by what the characters are doing. So yeah, when the hosts get power, they’re not gonna spend a lot of time naked on a stool."
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Sexual assault as a storyline wasn't addressed, but it seems safe to assume that, with the hosts in control, there will be a lot less of that as well.
The change seemed to surprise Newton, who pays Maeve on the show. She recounted reading the script for episode 1 of season 2 and mentioning the lack of nudity to Joy, who replied, "Why the hell would Maeve want to get naked again?"
Newton also spoke to her first experience filming nude scenes in season 1, remembering how respectful the director and crew were. "The grace and sensitivity…on the one hand, I was so appreciative, and on the other hand, I was horrified at what I’d been through up until then," Newton said. "I had delayed horror."
For us, this also means new costumes to analyze for clues about season 2. If one path of the maze that is Westworld shuts down, knowing Westworld it only means a whole new level of mazes will appear to take its place.
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