Casting for the new Watchmen TV show has begun, and it’s off to a great start. Yesterday, creator/showrunner Damon Lindelof released a lengthy, candid note to fans of Alan Moore’s graphic novel in which he revealed that this new adaptation would be a “remix” of the source material, not a retelling or even a straight adaptation. It felt like Lindelof was getting in front of something, preparing fans for a piece of breaking news, and indeed the first casting news for the Watchmen pilot has arrived.

Per THR, Lindelof will be reuniting with his The Leftovers actress Regina King on the project, with Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr. (An Officer and a Gentleman), Adelaide Clemens (Rectify), and Andrew Howard (Hatfields and McCoys) also onboard. Character details are being kept firmly under wraps, but based on Lindelof’s statement, we shouldn’t expect these performers to be filling roles that are necessarily familiar.

Indeed, Lindelof revealed in his letter that this new Watchmen would include brand new characters that didn’t appear in Moore’s groundbreaking graphic novel:

“This story will be set in the world its creators painstakingly built…but in the tradition of the work that inspired it, this new story must be original. It has to vibrate with the seismic unpredictability of its own tectonic plates. It must ask new questions and explore the world through a fresh lens. Most importantly, it must be contemporary. The Old Testament was specific to the Eighties of Reagan and Thatcher and Gorbachev. Ours needs to resonate with the frequency of Trump and May and Putin and the horse that he rides around on, shirtless. And speaking of Horsemen, The End of the World is off the table…which means the heroes and villains–as if the two are distinguishable–are playing for different stakes entirely […] Some of the characters will be unknown. New faces. New masks to cover them. We also intend to revisit the past century of Costumed Adventuring through a surprising yet familiar set of eyes…and it is here we will be taking our greatest risks.”

HBO has only ordered a pilot and likely won’t make a decision on whether this show is going to series until the pilot is complete, but this is all very exciting, and as an avid fan of Lindelof’s The Leftovers, I’m enthused to see where he goes with this new series.

Lindelof serves as executive producer alongside Tom Spezialy and Nicole Kassell, with Kassell set to direct the pilot. Look for more casting news soon as it sounds like this thing might start production soon.