Thandie Newton: They certainly like to have feedback from previous seasons, which I imagine goes towards how we continue. I think really, because we’re all part of this network and because there are a few of us that are consistently part of it, I feel like part of what I’m really concerned about is just that everyone feels good when we’re working, whether it be crew, cast, everybody. So it’s less about what you end up seeing onscreen. It’s just more about the welfare of everybody.
I feel really, really grateful how much they take our input in that respect seriously. It’s really important to them that everyone is respectful to one another and that as much as we can, we have gender equality everywhere that we can in every department. I mean, we don’t manage to completely, although with directors, we have more women than men this year. So it’s that side of things that I feel completely able to weigh in.
My enthusiasm, I mean after season one, it was extraordinary to play such a—well, to chart the empowerment of this robot. I loved the fact for me, it was a metaphor for the dispossessed in the world. There’s no argument that life is undervalued and some people just have a higher price on them than others in terms of how people are treated in the world where we’re seeing it now with the coronavirus.
I felt so proud to be part of a show that was seeing this brown woman who happened to be brown, but of course, that’s a big deal, through her awareness and ability to make judgments, make independent judgments. She became unstoppable. That was amazing. So I don’t know whether that established Maeve, but then Maeve has really…once she was established in season one, she kind of just sort of carries on in that spirit. It’s like the first season was all about developing her character. Then the second and third seasons have been her just sort of being part of a world that she doesn’t want to be in basically.
I know at the end of season two, you felt that your character, Maeve, had accomplished what she was trying to accomplish, freedom for some other people, saving her daughter, all this other stuff. Then she starts the third season kind of purposeless. She’s struggling to sort of give a shit about what’s happening in the world around her. It takes a while in this latest season of Westworld for Maeve to really get engaged in what’s going on. Given that so much of a performer’s work is driven by sort of what’s my motivation? What’s my motivation? How do you navigate a character who for so long in the season doesn’t have that?
I don’t know. It’s been strangely frustrating certainly for the character. Well, I guess for me too, in a way, but all with a purpose, because at the point when Maeve is presented with a choice, she has to make it. Obviously that doesn’t happen until the end of season three. So in a way, Maeve’s agency starts again in episode eight of season three. Yeah. So I’ve spent basically pretty much two and three floundering, learning some…skills and having an extraordinary experience and also creating a path for the audience to better understand what the hosts have been dealing with. She’s obviously been aware of the enormity of this whole Westworld franchise, Warworld, Shogun World. Now there’s Dragon World.
I want her to be part of the solution and not the problem. Of course, she’s not a baddie. I really love that about her. It had a huge influence certainly on my life. Yeah. But that’s just a personal preference. Wherever they take this, I really trust these guys. I think they’re master storytellers and I love being around them. I really love the work environment that they create. It’s bloody hard work and can be frustrating, but it’s everybody. Everybody is putting more than they think they could ever manage into this show.