‘Westworld’ Star Thandie Newton Wins Emmy for Best Supporting Actress

It looks like one of Westworld‘s most fan-favorite performers just earned a pretty high accolade.

During tonight’s Emmy Awards ceremony, Thandie Newton was given the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Maeve Millay on the hit HBO series. You can check out video of her acceptance speech below.

Newton’s performance as Maeve – a “host” who gains sentience and goes on a quest to rescue her daughter – has resonated with quite a lot of people, a significance that Newton takes to heart.

“When we were going into the publicity for the show, and people saw little bits, there was a lot of comment on, ‘Is this going to be gratuitous?’” Newton said in an interview last year. “Violence against women…It’s valid. And even though we were all terrified, because we just desperately wanted to stick with it—stick with this—we also knew that that was the point. The point we’re trying to make is, look at where we are, and is there a road out from here?

“I was just filled with excitement of where this show could go—of where this show could not really take us not as actors, but the audience, and people; and I know this is hyperbolic, but the world.” Newton continued. “Here we are right now at a crossroads, and I think Westworld, for me anyway, is part of the solution, not the problem. With so many of the roles I’ve played—[speaking about] roles for women—it’s tough out there, and very often I feel like I have to put my activism behind. I have to just be the actor, do what I have to do, but [on Westworld], I was an activist every single day I went to work. I felt part of the solution every single day.”

Going into Season 3, it sounds like fans can expect a lot of new things for Maeve and the other hosts.

“I think it’s a radical shift.” co-showrunner Jonathan Nolan explained in a recent interview. “What’s compelling and appealing about these characters is that they’re not human. As we said in the show, humans are bound by the same loops the hosts are, in some ways even smaller. You couldn’t expect human characters to withstand and survive the kind of story that we’re telling. The hosts have a different version of mortality, a different outlook. I think clearly with Dolores, as she’s laid out, there is a longer view here, a larger set of goals. They’re existential. They span eons. And that’s a fascinating level of story 
to engage in.”

What do you think of Newton’s Emmy win? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Westworld has been renewed for a third season. ComicBook.com will provide more updates as they come about.