If you’ve been online in the past 72 hours, then you’ve no doubt heard about this little thing called Westworld. The show has been touted as “the next Game of Thrones” for HBO given its genre appeal and pricey budget, but this past Sunday those with access to the pay cable network were able to see if the series lived up to the hype. And now, if you don’t have HBO and want to see what this hubbub is all about, you can watch the Westworld pilot online now for free, legally.

The series hails from executive producers J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Nolan, and Lisa Joy and is inspired by the Michael Crichton feature film of the same name, which revolves around a fully immersive Western-themed amusement park where the “hosts” are incredibly lifelike robots. This HBO series is told from the point of view of the androids, dubbed “hosts”, as they may or may not begin to become aware of the fact that their entire existence is a scripted lie in service of humans who arrive at the park day after day looking to get their rocks off by going on an adventure, having lots of sex, and murdering the hosts.

The pilot, scripted by showrunners Nolan and Joy and directed by Nolan, is a swell introduction to the world of Westworld with some tremendous world building. It sets up a number of intriguing mysteries and does a great job of establishing the rules of the universe, but it comes up a little short in the character department. That’s mostly due to the copious amounts of table-setting necessary to establish this universe, but I am eager to see if subsequent episodes flesh out these characters a bit more.

The show also introduces a number of fascinating thematic topics, from the ethics of such a park, what makes one “human”, and if we’re really the good guys here. Moreover, the show seems keenly aware of the reddit threads it will spawn, subtly hinting towards those who over-analyze content for clues, thereby missing the entire point.

Check out the pilot for yourself below, and let us know what you think in the comments section. Personally, I am 100% in for this series.

And if you missed any of our recent Westworld coverage, peruse the links below.

westworld-james-marsden-evan-rachel-wood
Image via HBO
westworld-luke-hemsworth
Image via HBO
westworld-tv-series-image
Image via HBO
westworld-ed-harris
Image via HBO