‘Westworld’ actress Evan Rachel Wood has revealed that only now, with two seasons already under her belt, is she starting to earn the same as her male co-stars.
Wood stars in the dystopian US drama as Dolores, but despite her character being the protagonist in the show, she’s revealed that the men in the cast still earned more money for the first two series.
Speaking to TheWrap on the issue of equal pay, she explained: “I think I’m just now to the point where I’m getting paid the same as my male co-stars.
“I was just told, ‘Hey you’re, you’re getting equal pay’ and... I almost got emotional. I was like, ’I have never been paid the same as my male counterparts. Never, never.”
After revealing that for the show’s third series she’ll earn the same as said co-stars, Wood added: “I think now we’re all doing equal amounts of work and really hard work.
“This is the first time that somebody made a point of being like, ‘Hey, you’re getting this. And you deserve it.’ And that was nice.”
Wood’s admission comes at a time when gender pay disparity is at the forefront of conversation, with ‘The Crown’ recently making headlines when it emerged that Claire Foy had earned less to pay Queen Elizabeth II than Matt Smith as Prince Philip.
But while ‘The Crown’ bosses tried to explain the pay gap by saying Matt Smith was more prolific star than Claire Foy, Evan Rachel Wood was an established star when she signed on to appear in ‘Westworld’, with two Golden Globe nominations already to her name when she was cast.
The third season of ‘Westworld’ will debut in the UK on Sky Atlantic and Now TV at 2am on Monday April 23, just hours after it airs on HBO in the US. It will then be repeated at 9pm, for anyone who doesn’t fancy staying up till the wee small hours to watch robots wage war on the human race.