It looks like HBO has picked up Damon Lindelof’s adaptation of Watchmen to series. The network just released this ad teasing “Nothing Ever Ends…” and a 2019 release date:
As we previously reported, the show stars Tom Mison, Jeremy Irons, Regina King, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Dylan Schombing, Lily Rose Smith, Adelynn Spoon, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman), Louis Gossett Jr. (Hap and Leonard), Adelaide Clemens (Rectify), Frances Fisher (Titanic), Jacob Ming-Trent (White Famous), and Andrew Howard (Hatfields and McCoys).
However, don’t expect another direct adaptation like Zack Snyder’s incredibly faithful 2009 movie. Lindelof took to Instagram to explain that his version is the “New Testament” to the original’s “Old Testament”. HBO also released the following logline via Indiewire:
Set in an alternate history where “superheroes” are treated as outlaws, “Watchmen” embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel while attempting to break new ground of its own.
Paired with the teaser’s proclamation that “Nothing Ever Ends…” it sounds like Lindelof will be doing a sequel series of sorts:
“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.”
Watchmen will undoubtedly be controversial, not just among fans, but probably among casual TV viewers as people try to get on board with what Lindelof is attempting with the superhero genre, specifically the deconstructed one created by the original graphic novel. I don’t know if it will work, but I’m eager to see what Lindelof creates.
