Dr. William Weir

Dr. William Weir is the main antagonist in the film Event Horizon 1997 played by Sam Neill.

Plot
In 2047, the rescue vessel Lewis and Clark is dispatched to answer a distress signal received from the Event Horizon, a starship that disappeared during its maiden voyage to Proxima Centauri seven years prior. Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and his crew —Lieutenant Starck (Joely Richardson), pilot Smith (Sean Pertwee), Medical Technician Peters (Kathleen Quinlan), Engineer Ensign Justin (Jack Noseworthy), Rescue Technician Cooper (Richard T. Jones), and Trauma Doctor D.J. (Jason Isaacs) —are joined for the mission by the Event Horizon's designer Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill). Dr. Weir briefs the crew that the Event Horizon was built to test an experimental gravity drive which generates an artificial black hole to use the immense gravitational power to bridge two points in spacetime, greatly reducing travel time over astronomical distances.

Upon arriving at the ship's decaying orbit around Neptune and boarding the Event Horizon to search for survivors, the crew finds evidence of a massacre. During the search, the ship's gravity drive activates automatically. Justin is pulled into the resulting portal, returning in a catatonic state. He is later placed in stasis after a failed suicide attempt in apprehension over the events he witnessed during his crossover. The activation of the gravity drive causes a massive shockwave which critically damages the Lewis and Clark and forces the entire crew to board the Event Horizon. The crew then begins experiencing hallucinations of their fears and regrets: Miller sees a subordinate, Corrick, he was forced to abandon in a fire; Peters sees images of her son Denny with his legs covered in bloody lesions; and Dr. Weir, a widower, sees his wife Claire with missing eyes, urging him to join her.

After deciphering a warning from a video log of the Event Horizon's crew going insane and mutilating each other, Miller and D.J. deduce that while the ship's gravity drive did successfully open a gateway in spacetime, it leapt outside the known universe and into another dimension, described later on by Dr. Weir as "a dimension of pure chaos, pure evil" (and implied to be Hell). The Event Horizon has since then gained an evil sentience and telepathic abilities, tormenting its occupants with the aim of compelling them to return to Hell.

Miller decides to destroy the Event Horizon despite objections from Dr. Weir, who is seduced and eventually possessed by the evil presence and uses an explosive device from the Event Horizon to destroy the Lewis and Clark. Smith is killed in the explosion which also launches Cooper out of the ship and into space. Peters dies from a long fall after being lured into the engineering section by an apparition of her son. Dr. Weir kills D.J. by vivisecting him and corners Starck on the bridge. Miller tries to rescue Starck but is caught by Dr. Weir, who activates the ship's gravity drive, initiating a ten minute countdown after which the Event Horizon and its passengers will return to the other dimension. Cooper, having used his space suit's oxygen to propel him back to the ship, tries to contact those inside, and Dr. Weir retaliates by shooting out the bridge window. Dr. Weir is blown out into space

by the ensuing decompression while Miller, Starck, and Cooper survive and manage to seal off the bridge area of the ship.

Miller then resolves to detonate the explosives installed on the Event Horizon to split the ship in two and use the forward section of the ship as a lifeboat. He is attacked by manifestations of Corrick and Dr. Weir, who shows Miller horrifying visions of the Lewis and Clark's crew being tortured and mutilated once they return to Hell. Miller fights off the manifestation and manages to detonate the explosives, sacrificing himself so Justin, Cooper, and Starck can escape. The gravity drive activates, pulling the rear of the ship into a wormhole. Starck and Cooper join Justin in stasis and wait to be rescued.

72 days later, the Event Horizon is located by a rescue party, who discover the remaining crew still in stasis. Starck has a nightmare of the scarred Dr. Weir being one of the rescuers and is awakened in a distraught state by a rescue team. Cooper restrains Starck and one of the rescuers calls for a sedative as the doors omniously close as the camera pans back.