Evan Rachel Wood (Dolores) on Westworld season 2: “I had no idea what was happening”

Evan Rachel Wood has just received an Emmy nomination for Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her work as Dolores Abernathy on the second season of Westworld. And based on what she tells Vulture in a recent interview, that’s very impressive, because apparently she was as confused by the show as some of the fans.

"I had no idea what was happening in season two. At all. And we shot out of order, so most of the time — I mean, it was insane to be an actor on season two. I don’t know how I feel about it. [Laughs.] But it was a ride. We stopped reading the call sheets. We would show up and Jeffrey [Wright] and I would ask what episode we were in. It was kind of that level of — we just lived in the moment in whatever scene that we were doing, and that’s how we made it."

For comparison’s sake, Sophie Turner has said that she and her costars received self-destructing scripts on the final season of Game of Thrones, so it’s challenges for HBO actors all around.

Wood also talked about costar Tessa Thompson, who in addition to playing her own character, Charlotte Hale, eventually had to play Wood’s after Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) uploaded Dolores Abernathy’s consciousness to a host modeled after Hale. How long did Thompson have to practice to get Wood’s speech patterns right? “You know it’s hilarious because we became really good friends at the beginning of season two, and then we started hanging out,” Wood said. “And then all of a sudden we realized that we were gonna be the same person [laughs] and it was very strange! This show is so funny. Because they didn’t tell us anything.”

"But I thought she did an amazing job. I would send her recordings of myself doing the dialogue, and then she really sold it. I thought it was great. But you know, we weren’t really doing scenes together and I was basically playing a different character this season. So when she found out she had to kind of be me, she came to me and said, ‘Wait — what have you been doing?’ [Laughs.] I’m like, ‘OH! Oh right! Yeah, I’ve got to do the voice for you and everything!’ So I just made recordings and she really made it her own, it was good."

For the record, Ed Harris (the Man in Black) didn’t know what was happening on Westworld, either. I’m sure someone out there knows.

Circling back to Wood’s Emmy nomination, it was just 1 of 21 nods for the show. Here’s the full list:

Outstanding Drama Series

• The Americans
• The Crown
• Game of Thrones
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• Stranger Things
• This Is Us
• Westworld

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series

• The Americans, Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings
• Ozark, Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde
• This Is Us, Sterling K. Brown as Randall Pearson
• This Is Us, Milo Ventimiglia as Jack Pearson
• Westworld, Ed Harris as The Man in Black
• Westworld, Jeffrey Wright as Bernard

Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Evan Rachel Wood (Dolores)

• The Americans, Keri Russell as Elizabeth Jennings
• The Crown, Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Elisabeth Moss as Offred / June Osborne
• Killing Eve, Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri
• Orphan Black, Tatiana Maslany as Sarah Manning, Helena, Alison Hendrix, Cosima Niehaus, Rachel Duncan, Krystal Goderitch, Elizabeth (Beth) Childs, Jennifer Fitzsimmons, Katja Obinger, Tony Sawicki, Veera Suominen (M.K.), Camilla Torres and Unnamed Clone
• Westworld, Evan Rachel Wood as Dolores

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series

• The Crown, Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret
• Game Of Thrones, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Alexis Bledel as Ofglen
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy
• Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven
• Westworld, Thandie Newton as Maeve

Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)

• Game Of Thrones, “The Dragon And The Wolf”
• Marvel’s Jessica Jones, “AKA Playland”
• Once Upon A Time, “Leaving Storybrooke”
• SEAL Team, “Pattern Of Life”
• Star Wars Rebels, “Family Reunion”
• Westworld, “Akane No Mai”

Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)

• Game Of Thrones, “The Spoils Of War”
• Homeland, “All In”
• Star Trek: Discovery, “What’s Past Is Prologue”
• Stranger Things, “Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer”
• Westworld, “Akane No Mai”

Outstanding Main Title Design

• The Alienist
• Altered Carbon
• Counterpart
• GLOW
• Westworld

Outstanding Special Visual Effects

• Altered Carbon, “Out Of The Past”
• Game of Thrones, “Beyond the Wall”
• Lost In Space, “Danger, Will Robinson”
• Stranger Things, “Chapter Nine: The Gate”
• Westworld, “The Passenger”

Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Period Or Fantasy Program (One Hour Or More)

• The Alienist, “The Boy On The Bridge”
• The Crown, “Beryl”
• Game Of Thrones, “Dragonstone”
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, “Ya Shivu v Bolshom Dome Na Kholme”
• Westworld, “Akane No Mai”

Outstanding Casting For A Drama Series

• The Crown
• Game of Thrones
• Stranger Things
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• Westworld

Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (One Hour)

• The Crown, “Beryl”
• The Handmaid’s Tale, “June”
• Legion, “Chapter 9”
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, “Pilot”
• Ozark, “The Toll”
• Stranger Things, “Chapter One: MADMAX”
• Westworld, “The Riddle Of The Sphinx”

Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series

• The Crown, Matthew Goode as Tony Armstrong-Jones
• Homeland, F. Murray Abraham as Dar Adal
• Mindhunter, Cameron Britton as Edmund Kemper
• This Is Us, Gerald McRaney as Dr. K
• This Is Us, Ron Cephas Jones as William
• Westworld, Jimmi Simpson as William

Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-Camera Series

• The Crown
• Game of Thrones
• GLOW
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Westworld

Outstanding Makeup For A Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)

• Game of Thrones, “The Dragon and the Wolf”
• GLOW, “Money’s In The Chase”
• The Handmaid’s Tale, “Unwomen”
• This Is Us, “Number Three”
• Vikings, “Homeland”
• Westworld, “Akane No Mai”

Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup For A Series, Limited Series, Movie Or Special

• American Horror Story: Cult
• The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
• Game of Thrones, “The Dragon and the Wolf”
• Star Trek: Discovery, “Will You Take My Hand?”
• Westworld, “The Riddle of the Sphinx”

Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour)

• Game Of Thrones, “Beyond The Wall”
• The Handmaid’s Tale, “June”
• Mr. Robot, “eps3.4_runtime-error.r00”
• Stranger Things, “Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer”
• Westworld, “Akane No Mai”

Outstanding Stunt Coordination For A Drama Series, Limited Series Or Movie

• The Blacklist
• Blindspot
• Game of Thrones
• Marvel’s The Punisher
• Westworld

Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media Within A Scripted Program

• Mr. Robot, Ecoin
• Rick And Morty, Virtual Rick-ality
• Silicon Valley, Interactive World: Not Hotdog, VR & Twitter-Powered Pizza Drones
• 13 Reasons Why, Talk To The Reasons
• Westworld, Chaos Takes Control Interactive Experience

Outstanding Music Supervision

• Atlanta, “Alligator Man”
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, “Pilot”
• Stranger Things, “Trick Or Treat, Freak”
• This Is Us, “That’ll Be The Day”
• Westworld, “Akane No Mai”

Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes

• Fahrenheit 451
• Game of Thrones
• The Handmaid’s Tale
• A Series Of Unfortunate Events
• Westworld

Clearly, Emmy voters really liked Episode 205, “Akane no Mai,” where Shogun World was introduced. Also, Westworld and Game of Thrones share several categories, and it will be interesting to see which of HBO’s powerhouses takes home the gold. Although it’s a tragedy that Zahn McClarnon didn’t get a nomination for his breakout role of Akecheta.

Next: Every episode of Westworld season 2 ranked worst to first

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