After 4 episodes of hype and build up, fans were enthralled with this week’s episode of ‘Westworld’ where they finally got to visit the long-awaited Shogun World section of the park and luckily, the show did not disappoint. From stunning attention to detail on the production side, to an engrossing storyline, to intriguing bits like the fact that much of Shogun World’s design, characters, and stories run parallel to those found in Westworld proper thanks to lazy writing by men like Lee (so much so that Maeve, Hektor and Armistice basically have doppelgangers, er doppelbots in the park named Akane, Musashi and Hanaryo), there was so much to see in episode 205 of ‘Westworld’ that it is no wonder that many fans are watching the episode numerous times just to make sure they caught everything. Then throw in the fact that the new cast members for the episode were so phenomenal and one almost wonders if HBO has given any thought to spinning off Shogun World into their own series on the network (I know I would watch a show watching Akane, Musashi and Hanaryo based on just their performances in this episode).
To celebrate the work that went into the tremendous episode, HBO has released a new, 13 minute Behind The Scenes Featurette which chronicles the work that went into creating Shogun World, talking about everything from how director Craig Zobel mimicked Japanese cinema with how he composed and lit his various shots, all the way to the costume and production design, which felt authentic and true to the Japanese time period the park was based on but still felt right at home with the aesthetic already known on the show.
Check it out for yourself below, and make sure to share any interesting tidbits you might pick up in the comments below!
