Update: HBO has officially given the green light to the Watchmen series with a pilot pickup and order for additional backup scripts.

Looks like it's happening, folks. Damon Lindelof is getting to work on HBO's series adaptation of WatchmenThe Leftovers showrunner is riding off the critical success of dearly departed series, which will go down in the books as one of the boldest, most imaginative pieces of television ever put to screen, and now he's getting to work adapting one of the boldest, most imaginative graphic novels ever put on the page.

Lindelof posted an update on Instagram today with the brief text, "Day One." Short, sweet and to the point, the text is accompanied by an image that will be familiar to fans of the source material -- the base of the retirement trophy given to Night Owl, which is seen on the cover of Watchmen #8. [h/t Uproxx]

Day One. A post shared by Damon (@damonlindelof) on

Back in 2015, we broke the news that HBO was considering developing a TV series adaptation of Alan Moore’s seminal graphic novel with filmmaker Zack Snyder, who adapted Moore’s book into the 2009 feature film, in discussions to return. But earlier this year, word broke that Lost and The Leftovers co-creator and showrunner Damon Lindelof was in early talks to develop the Watchmen series for HBO. Shortly after, Lindelof spoke a bit about his apprehension for approaching the material, which had a profound impact on him as a storyteller.

Lindelof said,

"I’ve been very vocal about my love for those 12 issues that eventually became a graphic novel, that they were completely and totally inspiring for all the storytelling that I did subsequently, and that I owe a debt to it. So is that piece of material something that’s really interesting to me? Yes, but I do feel like I have to weigh the balance of ‘Should it exist?’ before I decide to take it on, and I’m sort of in that process now. I hold the source material in such high regard it would literally be the worst feeling in the world to screw it up. So I take it very seriously, there’s a lot of responsibility.”

While it's not quite official confirmation, Lindelof's Instagram post is about as close as you can get without a press release that the writer seems to have figured out a way he thinks he can get the material right.

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