'Westworld' SXSW Preview Gives Sneak Peek of ShogunWorld

People who were lucky enough to attend South by Southwest in Austin, Texas were treated to an epic panel from HBO TV, showcasing the return of their fan-favorite series Westworld.

The panel began with a mysterious new trailer that we hope will be posted online soon, which shows brief glimpses at the highly anticipated Shogun World — and Thandie Newton's Maeve donning a kimono.

HBO's panel for Westworld followed up their impressive promotional stunt, in which they recreated the small town of Sweetwater outside the city limits. They would assign hats to "guests" and bus them out to the installation, where a mini-Westworld adventure could be played out.

There were taverns, shootouts, and mysteries to solve, and sometimes they'd even get a peak behind the curtain to see the technological marvels at work in order to bring the theme park to life. It was all in service for SXSW visitors to make it seem like they were actually visiting the Delos park, and hopefully something like that comes around once again.

The followup panel featured actors Thandie Newton (Maeve), Evan Rachel Wood (Dolores), Jeffrey Wright (Bernard), and James Marsden (Teddy) as well as showrunners Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan.

The cast spoke about the general sense of confusion they have even as actors behind the scenes.

"It's like onion you keep peeling back the layers — you're gonna see a lot of that in season two," said Wood.

"We don't know what's happening!" said Newton. "Just when you think you're comfortable, you have to be destroyed and start again."

"The first season is about establishing the rules — and then it rips them apart," added Wright.

Nolan and Joy spoke about how they approach each new season different than a television series.

"We wanted to treat [Westworld] a little bit more like a film franchise," said Nolan. "Each season is like an installment. And the only way that I know how to do that is to change the game every season."

Ahead of the series' return, Wood was asked if she was excited after such a long hiatus.

"It was like waiting for Christmas to come. But it's also daunting," Wood said. "You feel this looming sense of dread when you walk up to the set, because we don't really get to know what's going to happen, or what's in store for us. We get really excited, and then we remember what show we're on and we're like, Oh none of this ends well."

Westworld returns to HBO for Season 2 on April 22.

(h/t Deadline)