HBO orders ‘Westworld’ series

There are no sure things in television, but HBO’s latest series, “Westworld,” has stacked the deck in its favor with top-drawer talent.

The cable channel announced Monday that it was taking the remake of writer-director Michael Crichton’s 1973 science-fiction thriller to series.

Set in a futuristic amusement park -- the type of locale Crichton mined again in “Jurassic Park” -- the film featured a robotic Wild West gunman, played by Yul Brynner, whose programming goes wonky, causing him to attack the guests.

Jonathan Nolan, who co-wrote “Interstellar” with his brother, Christopher, and created the CBS thriller “Person of Interest,” co-wrote and executive produced the remake along with writer Lisa Joy.

Nolan, who is also adapting Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” novels for into a series for HBO, directed the pilot.

J.J. Abrams and Jerry Weintraub are also executive producers on the series, which features an A-list cast, including Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, Miranda Otto, Rodrigo Santoro, Shannon Woodward, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Angela Sarafyan and Simon Quarterman.

The series is expected to premiere sometime in 2015.

Rather than the standard teaser, HBO relased a short Vine video online to give a flavor of the series.

Looks like “Deadwood” ... with killer robots. How can that go wrong?

Follow me on Twitter: @patrickkevinday