Westworld Hasn’t Really Cracked Award Season Yet

Westworld is scoring award nominations, but not in a big way. There have been plentiful snubs.

Westworld, it’s fair to say, was the drama of the fall season. Even though the first season had plenty of faults, that didn’t stop it from being incredibly watchable. It may end up being the most compelling new drama of the year, but that’s a bit of a tougher sell. Nominations have been rolling in, and outside of Thandie Newton being nominated for her role as Maeve, Westworld’s cast has largely been snubbed. And that’s a serious shame.

Watch the crew talk about Ford’s narrative:

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There is a worthy ensemble at work in Westworld, and it’s right for them to be nominated for a SAG Award. But there are actors within that deserve to be singled out, such as Anthony Hopkins. It would be ludicrous to argue against Hopkins’ worthiness as Ford, the egotistical mad genius behind the park. Anthony Hopkins put in a nuanced, frequently alarming performance as Ford. And that leads directly into Jeffery Wright as Bernard. It took some time to warm up to Bernard, but he ended up becoming one of the great pillars of the first season.

Evan Rachel Wood also hasn’t been the force to be reckoned with that we assumed she would be. It would appear that voters found it easier to connect with Maeve than they did with Dolores. This could go on: Jimmi Simpson, Ed Harris, etc. There were so many great performances in Westworld’s first season that are being snubbed. This is a problem that Game of Thrones had to (and sometimes still does) grapple with. It took a long time for voters to recognize anyone other than Peter Dinklage, and he still gets the lion’s share of attention. No pun intended.

Next: HBO gets 13 SAG Award nominations.

Westworld deserves to enter its first award season with its head held high, and right now it’s just great that’s represented. But it could have, should have, done better. Unfortunately, there is likely only the first of many individual actor snubs for Westworld. At least for a while.