David Farnor | On 20, Jul 2019

“People wearing a mask are dangerous. We should be scared of them.” “Why?” “Because they have something to hide.” That’s the sound of HBO reimagining Watchmen into a whole new series.

Inspired by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s iconic graphic novel, the show introduces us to a world where a vast and insidious conspiracy at play. From Damon Lindelof and set in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws, the show embraces the nostalgia of the original graphic novel while attempting to break new ground of its own. The cast includes Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, and James Wolk.

The show has hints of the events that took place in Watchmen, which Lindelof has said will be canon and have taken place. And so we catch glimpses of people wondering if Dr. Manhattan is alive on Mars, a snatch of Rorschach’s most famous line, which has inspired a group of masked vigilantes, and, of course, Jeremy Irons as the now older Ozymandias.

The new series will premiere on HBO this autumn, and it will be available to watch in the UK on Sky Atlantic and NOW. There’s no confirmed release date yet, but here’s the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yKq1PRvPJQ

 

 

Watch: First trailer for HBO’s Watchmen

8th May 2019

While Game of Thrones is arguably the most talked about TV show of the year, HBO is hoping that it might have another contender for that title – and as soon as this autumn – with its new adaptation of Watchmen. Now, we’ve got our first look at what’s in store with the first teaser trailer.

Created by Damon Lindelof, the series is a modern-day reimagining of Alan Moore’s groundbreaking graphic novel about masked vigilantes. Set in an alternate history where superheroes are treated as outlaws, the original novel needs no introduction to comic book fans, with its alternate, subversive and violent take on superheroes legendary within the genre. Indeed, this is not the first time the text has been brought to the screen, with Zack Snyder directing a film in 2009.

Lindelof has previously told fans that he has “no desire to adapt the twelve issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created 30 years ago”.

“Those issues are sacred ground and will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted,” he added. “Because the bass lines in those familiar tracks are just too good and we’d be fools not to sample them. Those original 12 issues are our Old Testament. When the New Testament came along it did not erase what came before it.”

The story “will be set in the world its creators painstakingly built”, he explained, promising to “ask new questions and explore the world through a fresh lens”. That lens, it turns out, is a very contemporary one, as the trailer introduces us not to Rorschach but to a cult-like following inspired by the masked vigilante of the comic – a following that, judging by a glimpse of the older Ozymandias, may have taken issue with the actions of the younger Ozymandias. Is that a result of Rorschach’s journal being shared around in the years following the events of the graphic novel?

What we do know for sure, apart from the Leftovers-like vibe of the teaser, is that Lindelof’s series has a super-star-studded cast, including Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, and James Wolk.

The series will premiere this autumn, which is when you can expect it to air in the UK on Sky Atlantic. Here’s the video:

 

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