The cast and creators behind Westworld brought fans back to the park at South By Southwest on Saturday -- and even gave us a glimpse at the much-hyped Shogun World -- thanks to an electrifying sizzle reel.

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Westworld: Season 2 Trailer Breakdown 31 IMAGES

23 Films That Became TV Shows 24 IMAGES

The footage opens with Dolores and her band of hosts confronting a group of captive guests, and while we won't spoil the details of what happens next, it provides an electrifying showcase for Evan Rachel Wood. The footage then segues into a sizzle reel of quickly cut images similar to what HBO debuted during the Super Bowl , full of murder and mayhem, with dead bodies strewn throughout the park, and an armed taskforce arriving with guns drawn, clearly ready to engage the renegade hosts. We also see Jimmi Simpson back as William, taking a step towards his destiny in a sharp black suit. But the ending is the real kicker, revealing a first look at the inhabitants of Shogun World and Maeve in the middle of the melee, rocking a kimono.Newton's reaction to seeing the new footage should sum it up: "My butt was clenched the whole time."Chaos certainly seems to be a theme in Season 2, according to the stars. Jeffrey Wright, who plays Bernard, says "The first season was very much about establishing the rules of the place, and in Season 2, that's all just ripped apart... Season 2 for Bernard is just 'what the f***?'"Wood reveals that the new season took her out of her comfort zone in ways she's never experienced, leading to an immensely satisfying journey for Dolores. "I don't think I've ever pushed myself to these limits physically or emotionally or mentally. I think Season 2, there's so much tragedy, and out of rebirth... there have to be ashes for the phoenix to rise out of," she hints. "What's awesome about her in Season 2 is she's multifaceted, she has access to all these different parts of herself, but she's ironically so human and definitely leading the charge, but she's still so vulnerable. She still has this love that she feels and wrestles with. Everything she does in Season 2 weighs on her -- she's not shooting people up for fun, she wants her freedom."Co-showrunner Lisa Joy says that all of our hosts will be tested in Season 2 as they begin to figure out who they actually are outside of their programming: "We posit questions in this show that we don't necessarily have all the answers to, especially about character, because character is a constant struggle for reinvention and self-definition. Dolores, she finally gets power over herself, but there's still a question of what to do with that power, how to reconcile it, how to be a new kind of power? Thandie's character is the same sort of conflict, and they might come to different solutions. She has a tug for her family that brings her back into the park into danger."Joy adds that James Marsden's Teddy is presented as "this quintessential gunslinger, but as we see and explore more of his character, you also see he's not beholden to those archetypes of the unfeeling man just sitting there and shooting people... he has deep feeling for the people in his world and this deep heart that he's only just beginning to [explore]. And Jeffrey's character is literally torn between two worlds. He's been programmed to think he's human but he's a host, and you see him struggling with what the right moral and personal decisions are in a landscape that is fraught with conflict."Joy's co-creator and husband Jonathan Nolan admits that while they have a basic blueprint for where they want the show to go -- which is necessary when a series has this many twists -- they're mostly viewing Westworld "like a film franchise, with each season like an installment." This enables them to "change the game every season, to challenge the audience, the writers, the actors," and reinvent the show all over again, just like the hosts.Speaking of plot twists, Nolan admits that the creators are cognizant of the intense level of fan speculation surrounding the show, joking, "We love to f*** with Reddit as much as possible." He reveals that they're working on "a somewhat controversial plan" to change the way the show handles its fan engagement. "We're figuring out how to interact with that in the second season," he says, drawing the comparison of Game of Thrones fans who also read George R. R. Martin's books and worked to protect the twists from fans who were watching the show with no prior knowledge -- implying that some fans might get some early insight into the Season 2 arc. Dare we dream?And for fans who are still looking for easter eggs in Season 1, Wright admits that after filming wrapped on Season 2, he went back and watched the pilot, and discovered things that will apparently pay off in the new season. "There are a lot of things there," he teases. "Having just finished the work we did this season, there's some things there that I missed."In other news, Joy will direct her first episode of the show in Season 2, and Nolan describes it as "extraordinary... it's a bloodbath."Basically, April 22 can't get here soon enough.

Laura Prudom is the Executive TV Editor at IGN. You can talk to her on Twitter at @LauinLA