look to the westworld skies Jan. 4, 2023

James Marsden Didn’t Want to Leave Westworld, Does Want to Boogie on Broadway

Portrait of Jason P. Frank

By Jason P. Frank, a Vulture writer covering comedy, theater, and music

You’re a winner to us, baby. Photo: Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

“Throughout his career, James Marsden has made losing into an art form,” Vulture critic Angelica Jade Bastién wrote in 2016 after the season-one finale of Westworld. Unfortunately, he’s now lost that too. The HBO series was canceled in November after four seasons, leaving fans without answers to the show’s many, many mysteries. “I’d be lying to you if I told you that the way we ended Westworld wasn’t a disappointment,” Marsden told Rolling Stone in a Janaury interview. “I’m never going to speak without gratitude about any of my experiences, but it would have been nice to be able to complete the story we wanted to finish.” And yet Marsden is still able to look to the future. “I totally understand it’s an expensive show, and big shows have to have big audiences to merit the expense; I just wish it was about more than financial success,” he said. “But who knows, maybe there’s some world where it can get completed somehow. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking, because I know we had plans to finish it the way we wanted to.” And wouldn’t the biggest twist of all be that Westworld itself rises from the dead? Gasp!

Marsden is not only hoping for a future that includes Westworld; the Disenchanted star is looking at the Theaterworld. “For years I’ve flirted with the idea of doing an actual Broadway show,” he said. “Attaching yourself to eight shows a week is a full-on commitment, and you’ve got to move to New York, obviously, and we weren’t prepared to do that. Now that my kids are getting older that’s something I want to explore.” BRB, calling William Finn. Put this freakishly hot man in The Royal Family of Broadway if that’s what it takes. Stat!

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James Marsden Wasn’t Ready to Leave Westworld

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