Westworld: Anthony Hopkins on Ford’s Fate

Anthony Hopkins is absolutely brilliant and enigmatic on HBO’s new hit series Westworld.

While the first season may have ended last night, his portrayal of the genius scientist and god-like character Dr. Robert Ford will continue to haunt us and force us to question what reaching a higher consciousness really means.

Most of you know by now that Dr. Ford set an intriguing and mysterious “pro-host” plan in motion in the finale, which ultimately led to Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) putting a gun to the back of his head and pulling the trigger in front of a human audience.

In fact, his “farewell speech” was rather captivating:

“As you don’t want to change, or cannot change, because you’re only human after all. But then I realized someone was paying attention. Someone who could change, so I began to compose s new story for them. It begins with the birth of a new people and the choices they will have to make and the people they will decide to become.“

In a recent interview with EW, Anthony Hopkins explained his mastermind character:

“He’s obviously a very proud man fascinated by human intelligence, the nature of intelligence, the history of the human being, the nature of consciousness, and the theory that human consciousness – as we know it today – started very recently.“

When asked about the fate of his character, he made a reference to his favorite science-fiction film:

“So he’s a destructive man, as well. He wants to create a pure dystopia or utopia, but he begins to realize somewhere in there that he’s lost track of it. I think he’s troubled by his own conscience. I remember the one thing that did catch my attention when I started reading the scripts, was one of my favorite science-fiction movies – I’m not a science-fiction buff, but there’s a movie with Walter Pidgeon called The Forbidden Planet. Where Morbius creates this huge monster to guard his kingdom but he isn’t even aware that he’s created this monster until he realizes, “My god, I did this.” And then he destroys himself.“

In the end, Dr. Robert Ford realized he created something that he no longer had control over and “destroyed” himself and set everything else on a path to freedom.

Now, whether or not Dolores shot and killed the human version of Ford or a “host” version of Ford is yet to be determined…

Could there be two Fords or did he really end it all for himself while setting everything else in motion?

NEXT: Season 2 May Take Place In Samurai World

More Westworld: Did Ford Really Die/The Man in Black Revealed / The Maze Revealed / Ford’s New Narrative Revealed / WESTWORLD FINALE RECAP WITH SPOILERS

Westworld will return for season 2 on HBO in 2018.