The Real Reason Logan Delos Limps In Westworld

HBO's "Westworld" has never been short of hateable characters. Even by its often heavy-handed standards, though, Logan Delos stood out as Season 1's most unlikeable son of a gun, ripping through side quest invites and gunning down colorful side characters with the ferocity of a Skyrim player that just wants to watch the world burn.

All of that punchability didn't just come from nowhere. It was the result of a killer performance by Ben Barnes, the dethroned prince of Narnia who brought a distinctive, wild-eyed unpredictability to the role of the Delos Corporation's heir apparent. During a Facebook Live questions and answers session back in 2016 (via Westworld Watchers), the performer was quick to double back after jokingly claiming that his character was based entirely on himself. He did, however, take full credit for one of Logan's peculiar affectations, though not in the way you might think.

The story popped up when Barnes was asked about the hardest part of shooting "Westworld" Season 1.

"Okay, I'm going to tell you a secret," he responded, before going into a story seemingly designed to make HBO's insurance adjusters do a collective facepalm.

"The hardest thing" about shooting Westworld's debut season, according to Ben Barnes, "was the first day, because I was actually in England when I got this job and I had to fly the same day I got the job and start shooting only a few days later. And I managed to essentially break my foot on the way, running down the stairs to get in the taxi to get to the airport, and I never told anyone." Fearful of losing the role, Barnes tried to disguise the injury.

"So in my very first day of filming, which was the next day" he continued, "you can sort of see the hobbling. I'm sort of hobbling along with this cowboy-ish limp which I tried to maintain for the next year, just so that I could pretend it was a character choice."

Barnes went on to describe the great lengths that he went to, trying to ensure that he wouldn't be found out. He even went so far as to refuse to stand up during his studio-mandated pre-shoot physical. He summed up by explaining that the mere act of walking was his greatest challenge when filming Season 1. "I probably shouldn't have told you any of that," he added.

And that's the true story of how Logan Delos got his limp. Check back soon for more juicy show business updates, like how all of the actors who played "Westworld's" hosts on the show developed their thousand-yard stares during scenes where their characters were in diagnostic mode by striking themselves in the head with a wooden mallet.