Warning: Spoilers ahead!
When it comes to Westworld, always expect the unexpected.
That’s all the cast can really do anyway. As Aurora Perrineau previously told E!, the actors only get the scripts for the episodes once they’re ready to film it. So Daniel Wu was completely unaware that his character Jay, a rebel leader, would become a host and later be stabbed in the head by Maeve (Thandiwe Newton)—all of which happened in episode six.
“I was definitely shocked,” he told E! News. “I didn’t find out until right before episode five and I was like, ‘Whoa, that would have been nice if I’d known earlier.'”
After the shock wore off though, Daniel was grateful for the secrecy because he felt that his performance was unmarred by this knowledge. As he explained, “Jay doesn’t know that that’s gonna happen. So therefore, the actor shouldn’t know either.”
But Daniel wasn’t completely in the dark when it came to Jay’s story. Before filming started, he sat down with showrunner Lisa Joy to discuss Jay’s experience losing his brother and how that grief impacted his relationship with Aurora’s Frankie. He noted that this conversation was especially important, because Jay’s character is slowly introduced throughout the first episodes.