Watchmen is one of the more underrated and forgotten superhero movies that has hit the pop culture zeitgeist over the last decade.
Released in 2009 and directed by Zack Synder, Watchmen is wildly complex and dense film for a ‘comic book’ movie. A dark satirical and dystopian take on the superhero genre, the film is set in an alternate history in the year 1985 at the height of the Cold War.
While not everyone’s cup of tea, Watchmen certainly had its fans, myself included. And while I consider it a relatively good movie, I know it would make an EXCELLENT television show, especially with Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) at the helm.
Furthermore, if this ever does come to fruition (fingers crossed), it will be unrelated to Zack Snyder’s adaptation.
This will be HBO’s second attempt at developing a series based on the landmark DC Comics miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The premium channel had kicked the tires on a “Watchmen” project in 2014. Sources say Lindelof’s take on the series would be starting over from scratch independent of that effort.
Premiering in 1985, “Watchmen” was a serious-minded deconstruction of superhero comics loosely inspired by characters from the Charlton Comics library, which were owned by DC. Set in a universe in which the appearance of costumed heroes in the mid-20th Century had altered the course of history — leading to U.S. victory in Vietnam and a Nixon presidency that stretched into the mid-1980s — “Watchmen” followed a group of crimefighters investigating the murder of one of their own. In the process, those characters — including Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, and Rorschach — uncover a conspiracy with enormous implications.
While no deal is yet in place and HBO declined to comment, something about this one just seems like a natural fit. Lindelof is fresh off the creative high of The Leftovers (literally my favorite show of all-time) and HBO, despite what they may say about Westworld, are still looking to stock up on post-Game Of Thrones hits.
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