The Westworld SFX team got creative for Maeve’s surgery in season 2

The second season of Westworld ended back in June, but we’re still processing just went on. Pixomodo, a special effects studio that worked on the second season, sheds some new light on it with this cool VFX breakdown:

One of the more interesting parts comes around 0:44, where we see Maeve (Thandie Newton) on the operating table, her flesh pulled back so the Westworld techs can access her data. It was a gruesome scene, and now, we see how Pixomodo pulled it off: by turning a blowtorch on some raw chicken meat and superimposing it over the image of Maeve. I bet everyone in the room was hungry after that.

Westworld could have created this scene purely with CGI, but it chose to go the practical route. It paid off with an uncomfortable level of realism that made me feel bad for Maeve even though she’s a robotic host…and also fictional.

At the end of season, the host Dolores escaped into the real world. She’s hellbent on getting revenge on humankind, so HBO may have further need of Pixomodo’s creativity come season 3.

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