Westworld is taking viewers on a trip through time.
In the July 3 episode of the HBO series, Maeve (Thandiwe Newton) and Caleb (Aaron Paul) step off the train and into the Roaring ’20s. The duo see flapper-esque hosts strut through the rowdy streets of Chicago, ready to do the Charleston and drink the night away.
This new park is partly a nod to our current reemergence from the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the decade we’re currently living in. But it also has its ties to the original park set in the Wild West.
“In so many ways it was a perfect decade to go to,” executive producer Allison Schapker told E! News. “In cinema, I really feel that the gangster is a direct descendant of the Western Gunslinger. And it’s also a time of corruption, law-breaking and, obviously—not just limited to prohibition—but the whole gangster kind of era.”
Plus, Allison said, “We couldn’t resist all the accoutrements too, like the costumes and Tommy guns.”