Westworld Season 1 told the story of a theme park set in the future where things began to slowly unravel, as the android "Hosts" gained self-awareness and rebelled. While fans learned by the finale that this was a long-term project set off by Robert Ford himself, in the premiere episode, events seemed to be triggered when Peter Abernathy discovers a photo of a woman standing in a city, out in the real world. That woman, it turned out, was Juliet. Who is Juliet? And how did her picture wind up in the Westworld park? Is there a chance the actress will turn up for Season 2?
The truth is, no, this was not someone the show was planning on casting. How do we know? Because this was a photo from the props department.
Here's a little insider info on how your TV sausage gets made. Photos fall under the prop category. They're very important in the world of film, because they act as both backstory and worldbuilding, showing a place a character has been in their past, a snapshot of another part of the world we're not seeing currently on screen.
In order to achieve believable photos for a prop, there are three ways to go about it:
- Photoshop: Where the actor is photographed in character and then green-screened onto a suitable background
- Photograph loans: Where the actor's own photos are borrowed by the production and used as the character's photos.
- Purchase: The props person goes through a website that sells professional photos and buys one.
In this case, the photograph of Juliet was in the third category. That picture is from Getty Images.
How was this determined? Did psycho fans spend hours searching Getty's website? Don't be silly. They recognized the model in the photo.
This photo is Claire Unabia, who America's Next Top Model fans will remember from Cycle 10. The best part was that Unabia had no idea her photo was being used until the story went viral and she began receiving phone calls.
Once she did learn it was her and watched the series, she decided the character she had been cast as was an important one.
Juliet must have been one powerful woman to make William into such a psychopath after losing her.
She's not wrong.
When the series starts, fans have no idea who this is in the photo, and it could just be a picture that a random guest lost in the park. But by the show's final episodes, we've learned this is a photo of the woman who William is engaged to marry, Juliet Delos.
Viewers find out who Juliet is when Logan shoves this photo in William's face when he gets too into chasing Dolores across the park. It's supposed to be a reminder of the real world. Ironically, the photo falls out of William's pocket as he heads back to town, unable to find Dolores. it gets covered with sand, and then later resurfaces after the rancher's farm is moved to that spot.
When the show finally puts together that the Man In Black and William are one and the same, Juliet's fate becomes clear. She's the wife who committed suicide in the bath that the Man In Black has spoken of. She's the reason he came into the park and killed Maeve and her daughter "just to feel something."
Westworld will be bouncing around even more in the timeline this coming season, with the showrunners promising a time jump immediately when the show kicks off. Is there a chance we might have a flashback and see Juliet when she was alive? If so, will the show honor the fan's discovery and cast Unabia?
We'll find out when Westworld returns. Season 2 debuts on Sunday, April 22, 2018, at 9 p.m. ET.
