With the world of film being crazy for reimaginings and reboots, it seems fewer and fewer years in between to consider remaking something. Zack Snyder’s Watchmen is not even a decade old and it turns out the HBO pitch back in 2015 has reared its head to become an official series. Or a pilot, at least.
Variety has reported Damon Lindelof will be serving as writer and executive producer of this pilot episode, with actors Regina King, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr. Adelaide Clemens and Andrew Howard all confirmed. King, who has appeared in The Leftovers with history working with Lindelof and HBO, is slated to be the lead.
The odd thing is despite the Watchmen namesake, this series will actually be a “new story” in the same universe as the comics, following debuting characters in the present time, as Lindelof mentions:
“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.”
So far, this sort of thing is a real head-scratcher on paper. This definitely doesn’t seem to fill the gap with Geoff Johns’s story on Doomsday Clock, so that looks to be out of the picture. Given it won’t be a prequel or a retelling, that puts any use of the Before Watchmen comics to rest as well (because let’s be honest, the Nite Owl one was the only great one of the bunch). We’re looking at an original story from the looks of it and this could be a miss.
Watchmen has always been a story that stood out the test of time with its hard knot on commentary, closure and a phenomenal narrative that even Zack Snyder mastered with the director’s cut of his 2009 film. It should be worth mentioning that an animated film is also in the works, which makes this year quite a revival for the Alan Moore classic. While Snyder was originally set to work on this new HBO Watchmen, they seemed to have moved on and given a very questionable approach.
Same time though, it’s HBO. The same folks who brought us Game of Thrones and the amazing Spawn Animated Series. This could really take off as well and it’s being trusted to start with only a pilot. Maybe they’ll follow our points? Only time will tell…
What do you think about this? Are you excited for the show? Be sure to tell us your thoughts in the comments!