24 WATCHMEN
ŭȀ˔ФRegina King, Jeremy Irons, Tim Blake
Nelson, Don Johnson, Yahya Abdul-Mahteen II
ǺƔŭȇǘˀФ Damon Lindelof
̧ưƔʖФ Aut umn 2019
̧ưƔǺɛФ HBO (US)/Sky Atlantic (UK)
AƔǐǺɛФSci-fi
A ‘remix’ of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’
seminal comic could be some of the most
interesting TV we’ve seen for a while. After all,
we have the comic, we have Zack Snyder’s decent
movie adaptation, and DC has already done
prequels and sequels with Before Watchmen and
Doomsday Clock. The question of whether or not
this should be made is kind of moot at this point,
the question of whether or not they’ll deliver
something great is much more interesting.
Damon Lindelof is certainly aware of the
fans’ delicate feelings on the subject, writing
a five-page Instagram post in May last year in
which he detailed his history with the comic, his
declaration that this would be a remix that would
“sample” some of “the bass lines in those familiar
tracks,” and that it would “resonate with the
frequency of Trump and May and Putin and the
horse that he rides around on, shirtless.”
The writer may have a track record of making
incredibly divisive movies and TV shows, but
given that his last big project was The Leftovers,
it’s probably wise to cut him some slack.
Speaking of The Leftovers, most of the publicity
for the show so far has focused on Regina King,
fresh off her Oscar win and starring as costumed
hero Angela Abar. We can expect almost entirely
new characters (although Tim Blake Nelson’s
unnerving Looking Glass has more than a touch
of Rorschach about him) and the only confirmed
canon figure so far is Ozymandias, played by
Jeremy Irons. It seems his great plan to secure
world peace wasn’t especially lasting, as the
doomsday clock is ticking once again. There’s a
cabal of sinister masked vigilantes taking their
inspiration from the late Walter Kovacs and
looking awfully Alt-Right, while the police (led
by Don Johnson’s Chief Judd Crawford) now wear
masks, and there’s a mysterious FBI agent (played
by Jean Smart) who happens to have the same
surname as The Comedian...
The cast also includes Yahya Abdul-Mateen
II, Tom Mison, Louis Gossett Jr and Adelaide
Clemens, while Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
will provide the score. This represents a big roll of
the dice from HBO, which is looking for new ways
to capture the zeitgeist in the wake of Game Of
Thrones. Can Lindelof and company find a new
spin on Watchmen that will thrill and resonate,
or will this be one of the most fascinating failures
of the year? We’ll just have to wait and see...