Luke Hemsworth on his Westworld character being a host: “There’d been hints along the way”

The latest episode of Westworld, “The Winter Line,” introduced us to Warworld, a new Delos park that simulates for guests the thick of World War II, cause that’s fun. (Really, it was all a simulation designed to trick Maeve (Thandie Newton) into giving away information, but let’s not make things on this show more complicated than they already are.)

In a new behind-the-scenes video, showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy explore how they brought Warworld to life with help from the show’s costume designers, set decorators and other professionals. They found old German vehicles throughout Europe, and extras willing to perform incredible feats of balance. Check it out:

I like that Head Costume Designer Shay Cunliffe was able to incorporate Maeve’s red color palette into her World War II-era dress. Also, is it just me, or did it look incredibly painful for the actors who were balancing on the stakes during the freeze-frame scene? That’s some kind of core strength.

Maeve. Westworld. Photograph by John P. Johnson/HBO

In this episode, we also learned Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth), head of security for Westworld, was actually a host, much like Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright) before him. “There’d been hints along the way,” Hemsworth told Insider. And if you watched the season 2 finale, then you probably know exactly what he’s talking about, as Stubbs the newly minted host version of Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) to leave Westworld and go back to the mainland.

“I kept hassling [showrunner Jonathan Nolan] every time I saw him [laughing],” Hemsworth continued. “To the point where he would go, ‘Look, that’s your one question’ and turn and walk away and I was like ‘Ah, wait, wait! OK…’ I didn’t know for sure, but I think the nature of the show is that everyone suspects, I guess. And it’s the question of ‘Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going?'”

Westworld official JOHN P. JOHNSON/HBO

When the time finally came to shoot that scene, Hemsworth was sleep-deprived on account of a delayed flight and rewrites, and anxious to get it right. But in the end, it worked out perfectly, even receiving praise from the episode’s director Fred Toye.

"We just took our time and man, somehow we’re able to just get it. It was a really nice scene, and Fred came up afterward and he said, “Thanks so much.” He hugged me and he was like, “All the chaos and everything and that was just this beautiful little moment between you guys.” It was really nice."

Hemsworth still had questions about his character after that, like who he was loyal to, and whether he still worked for Delos. Well, if they weren’t cleared up in the season 2 finale, then they were in “The Winter Line,” as Stubbs tells Bernard he was created by Dr. Ford to protect the hosts. But by the end of the episode Bernard had given him a new job: protect Bernard.

And then there was the battle scene, where Ashley took a battle axe to some of Delos’ best security guys. But as fun as it was to watch, it was tricky to film because of a horrendous-sounding injury. “The funny thing is, the first big fight that I had when we’re leaving the park with the guys in the hallway, I actually snapped my bicep off the bone two days before that,” Hemsworth recalled. “So when [Stubbs] gets shot in the arm, that was something we had to do because I couldn’t move my arm properly.”

"I was hanging a TV by myself on a ladder and just — it was a big TV. It was really big. And it was a really long way up. I was just kind of bouncing it to get it onto the brackets and it just went like [makes a popping sound]. It was like an ax chop. But I got the TV on! [laughing] Somehow the TV was on the brackets and it’s still there to this day."

That’ll teach him to try home improvements.

Hemsworth was there, by the way, when Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss were on set to film their scene with Drogon.

“Oh yes, yes, yes, yes,” he remembered. But I still haven’t [seen the episode]. I mean, I saw it then. But I feel like — is there a dragon in that scene as well? That’s awesome. Fantastic. Because I was staring at a silver ball.”

"Yeah. I’m recalling something about the dragon now, but yeah, I can’t wait to see it. I love Game of Thrones and I love this idea of a crossover. We should just borrow their actors [laughing]."

He and George R.R. Martin think alike.

The next episode of Westworld, “The Absence of Field,” airs this Sunday on HBO!

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