7 Reasons Westworld Is Your Next TV Addiction

If you think making good television is cheap, you would be wrong. The first season of Westworld cost an estimated $100 million, which isn't pocket change for anyone.

Everyone knows how Game of Thrones's original pilot turned out - at an extortionate $20 million, the pilot episode was binned before it ever aired. It is reported that 1/4 of the Westworld budget went on the premiere episode, so it is a good job it didn't go all Thrones on us! Thankfully the first reviews are positive for Westworld, and the teaser trailer for what's to come looks even better.

I can bet that a hefty chunk of that moolah went on Westworld's impressive backdrop - instead of being confined to a Western studio lot, Westworld serves as a verified tour of the real wild, wild, West. Shot in various locations, filming was mainly in Santa Clarita, California. Jonathan Nolan really went to town on capturing the essence of Cowboy Country by also visiting Castle Valley, and Fisher Valley, in Utah. Speaking to the Salt Lake Tribune, the show's writer/director expressed himself for the Western states of the U.S.A.:

The place that I always was drawn back to was southern Utah. It has these landscapes that don't look like anywhere else on the face of the planet...We went to that classic, iconic sense of the John Ford Western. That geography is exquisitely, exclusively American.

As well as an expansive setting, production spared no expense on the looks they couldn't create naturally. We have a lot to thank effects team Cosa VFX for when it comes for making our ever talented humans look not so human. It apparently isn't just a case of not blinking! Compare this to shows like Oz, or Vinyl, which were expensive enough just with minimal visual enhancement, and it is easy to see where that $100 million went. HBO may be putting all its eggs in one basket, but only time will tell if it pays off!