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Media Release: Wednesday September 28, 2016
Foxtel ‘Home of HBO’ screens Westworld, Divorce and Quarry

As the ‘Home of HBO’, Foxtel will exclusively premiere three of HBO’s hotly anticipated new series – Westworld, Divorce and Quarry – on its showcase channel from October and available to view on demand in Foxtel’s complimentary streaming service Anytime.

Westworld premieres first Mondays from October 3 at 12pm midday the same time as the US, followed by a prime time broadcast at 8.30pm. Quarry will premiere on Mondays from October 3 at 9.30pm, and Divorce will debut the following week Wednesdays from October 12 at 8.30pm.

Previews of the series have already been met with rave reviews from critics including:
· “Move over Game of Thrones! It’s cowboy time,” The Guardian
· “HBO’s mysterious Westworld sent fans into a tweeting frenzy last week after the first sustained peek debuted on HBO,” EW
· “Westworld: The first reviews are all raves,” EW
· “HBO’s major new drama [Westworld] is sinister and spectacular,” The Telegraph
· “A funny, engaging look at divorce, where neither character is portrayed as an antagonist of any kind,” /FILM
· “Move Quarry to the top of your watchlist now,” The Washington Post

Westworld, HBO’s reality-bending drama, starring Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood and James Marsden will premiere on Foxtel’s showcase channel on Monday October 3 at 12pm noon, the same time as the US, with a prime time encore at 8.30pm. Westworld is an ambitious and highly imaginative drama series that elevates the concept of adventure and thrill-seeking to a new and ultimately dangerous level. In the futuristic fantasy park known as Westworld, a group of android “hosts” deviate from their programmers’ carefully planned scripts in a disturbing pattern of aberrant behaviour. Westworld was inspired by the 1973 motion picture written and directed by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park), and was created for television by EPs Jonathan Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight) and Lisa Joy (Pushing Daisies, Burn Notice). Other Eps on the HBO series include J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk (Lost, the new Star Wars and Star Trek movies) and Jerry Weintraub.

The exceptional cast is headed by Hollywood heavyweight Anthony Hopkins who plays Doctor Robert Ford, when speaking of his role in Westworld, Hopkins said, “I get to play these very strange characters who are always in control, which is completely against my nature. I just go with the flow of it all now… I can’t take anything too seriously. With Doctor Ford it is on a massive scale – he controls everything and he wants to perfect everything, which means he’s mad.”

The original film Westworld from 1973 is about a futuristic theme park where robots are programmed to fulfil guests’ lustful and sometimes violent fantasies – until something goes wrong with their circuitry. Foxtel will air the original Westworld film starring Yul Brynner and James Brolin as part of their “Sunday Night At The Movies” weekly feature on the eve of the new HBO drama series debut. Discover the inspiration behind the incredible new Westworld on Sunday October 2 at 8.30pm only on FOX Classics.

Starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church, Divorce is a refreshingly honest new half-hour comedy series from HBO about the never-ending process of unwinding a marriage premiering exclusively on Foxtel’s showcase channel Wednesdays from October 12 at 8.30pm Express from the US.

Created by Sharon Horgan (creator and star of the Emmy®-nominated series Catastrophe), Divorce centres on Frances (Emmy® and Golden Globe Award winner Parker), who, after more than a decade of marriage and two children, has suddenly begun to reassess her life and her strained relationship with her husband Robert (Emmy® winner, Haden Church).

The story of a very, very long divorce, Frances and Robert grapple with the fallout from their failing union, not just for themselves, but also for their children and friends. Finding sharp, observant humour in tense situations ranging from awkward public encounters to bitter private therapy sessions, Divorce is about two people at the most difficult moment in their lives, feeling more intense emotions for each other than they’ve felt in years.

Premiering Mondays from October 3 at 9.30pm only on Foxtel’s showcase channel, Quarry is a thrilling action drama centering on the character of Mac Conway (Logan Marshall-Green Prometheus, 24, Spider-Man: Homecoming), a Marine who returns home to Memphis from a second tour of duty in Vietnam in 1972, only to find himself stigmatised by his involvement in a highly publicised massacre while fighting abroad. Though he and his fellow Marine Arthur Solomon (Jamie Hector The Wire) have been exonerated of wrongdoing, they are greeted with hostility and rejection from their families and the public in Memphis, with neither able to land a decent job.

With Mac’s relationship with his wife Joni (Jodi Balfour Final Destination 5) growing tenuous, he and Arthur are tempted by a lucrative offer from a shady criminal known as The Broker (Peter Mullan Olive Kitteridge). At first, Mac refuses to offer up his services to The Broker, but after Arthur opts to trade his principles for quick cash, Mac – whom The Broker codenames “Quarry” – finds himself conscripted against his better judgement into The Broker’s crew, a turn of events that has dire consequences for himself and those close to him.

Based on the novels of Max Allan Collins (who also wrote Road to Perdition), the eight S1 episodes of Quarry are directed and executive produced by Greg Yaitanes (Banshee), along with EP Steve Golin (True Detective). It is created and executive produced by Graham Gordy & Michael D. Fuller (Rectify). Other EPs are Matt DeRoss (The End of the Tour), David Kanter (The End of the Tour), Ken Levin (The Scribbler) and Max Allan Collins. Quarry was shot on location in New Orleans and Tennessee. As he struggles to cope with his experiences at war, Conway is drawn into a network of killing and corruption that spans the length of the Mississippi River.

Australian actor Damon Herriman (Secret City, Justified) plays Buddy, an eccentric member of The Broker’s team in Quarry. About his character, Herriman said, “Buddy is someone who’s been working for The Broker in this particular world for five years. I’m the most experienced of the guys that he’s got working for him, so for the purpose of the show, I show [Mac] the ropes and show him what he’s about to become a part of. In terms of Buddy the man, he’s such a layered, complex character. He can be incredibly sensitive and quite charming, but he’s also very violent and flies off the handle incredibly easily. Despite having a very tough front, he’s finding life pretty hard at the moment. It’s starting to get to him, the fact that his life pretty much amounts to going out and murdering people. He’s a very layered guy. And he’s gay and living in the South in 1972 – that’s another tough combination.”

As Australia’s undisputed ‘Home of HBO’, Foxtel has access to even more HBO dramas, comedies and documentaries. In addition to current seasons of HBO shows that air on Foxtel, customers will now be able to stream their favourite HBO series, past and present – including Westworld, Divorce and Quarry – via Foxtel Anytime available on demand, all the time.

-Brad