A Huge Star From West Side Story Has Joined Westworld
Well at least they're on the right side of town!
HBO’s Westworld is adding to its already stellar cast with a newly-crowned Oscar winner. Ariana DeBose is joining the cast of the hit sci-fi series for season four, which premieres on the premium service on June 26, according to The Hollywood Reporter. DeBose just took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in March for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s remake of the classic musical West Side Story. A new teaser trailer for season four was just released, and DeBose appears, briefly, among a flurry of quickly-edited scenes, promising a violent and suspenseful tone for the upcoming season.
When the trailer for the new season of Westworld was released earlier today, fans quickly noticed Ariana DeBose was in the trailer, even though she had not yet been announced as a cast member. Fans began posting on social media about it, causing Debose herself to confirm. She retweeted a post about her appearance in the new season with a response of “You guessed it.” You can see that post below.
With a tagline of “A perfect day is here,” very little is known of the direction of the plot for season four, although eagle-eyed fans of the show will likely pull a number of clues from the trailer. Ariana Debose is seen alongside Evan Rachel Wood’s Dolores Abernathy in the trailer, but her character’s role has not been announced, only that it is a recurring guest-star role. That doesn’t provide much insight as to how many episodes she will appear in; eight episodes have been announced for season four so far. It’s been more than two years since the Westworld season three finale aired on HBO, so fans have long awaited the show’s return, and are speculating whether the show’s plot will jump forward in time to match the gap.
Ariana Debose will join current cast members Wood, Thandiwe Newton (The Pursuit of Happyness), Ed Harris (The Truman Show), Jeffrey Wright (The Batman), Tessa Thompson (Thor: Love and Thunder), Luke Hemsworth (Death of Me), Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) and Angela Sarafyan (The Twilight Saga). The series, based on the 1973 film by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park), follows a futuristic western-themed amusement park where rich vacationers live out their fantasies among human-like robots who meet their every need without fear of consequence. The robots, however, have other plans. A description of the show’s new season calls it a “dark odyssey about the fate of sentient life on earth.”
Ariana DeBose was a bit of an underdog going into the 94th Academy Awards ceremony in March. She was not the favorite to win Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in West Side Story, although anyone who saw the film will admit that she absolutely stole the film in her role, providing the emotional center alongside Rita Moreno. Still, it was a shock to see her best fellow nominees Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter), Judi Dench (Belfast), Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog), and Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard) to win the Oscar. She also won a SAG Award and a Golden Globe for the role. Prior to West Side Story, DeBose starred in the musical series Schmigadoon!, as well as The Prom. She can also be seen as a member of the ensemble in the Disney+ film version of the staged performance of Hamilton.
