HBO’s ‘Watchmen’: Everything You Need to Know About Damon Lindelof’s Take On the Classic Graphic Novel

It’s Based On a Graphic Novel…

Damon Lindelof’s HBO series is, of course, based on the DC Comics “Watchmen” graphic novel from the 1980s. Originally published in 1986, the 12-issue comic series gained notoriety, success, and critical acclaim for its deconstruction and satirization of the superhero genre.

Created by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave GIbbons, “Watchmen” depicts a contemporary alternate history — also set in the ‘80s — where the emergence of superheroes in the ‘40s (the Minutemen) and ‘60s (the Crimebusters) changed key historic events. The United States won the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal was never exposed, and by 1985, the United States and the Soviet Union are on the brink of World War III. The latter team, the Crimebusters, were the central focus of “Watchmen” and consisted of Captain Metropolis, The Comedian (who was also part of the Minutemen), Nite Owl II, Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, Silk Spectre II, and Ozymandias.

Also by 1985, those established superheroes had either retired or transitioned into working for the government, as “costumed adventuring” had been outlawed due to the Keene Act of 1977. (Rorschach, however, continued to fight as a costumed adventurer, in open defiance of the law.) But when The Comedian is murdered, the Crimebusters come out of retirement to investigate.

…Which Has Been Adapted for Screens Before

In 1986, 20th Century Fox acquired the film rights to “Watchmen,” but it underwent various creative teams — and different studios, from Fox to Warner Bros. to Universal to Revolution to Paramount and then back to Warner Bros. — before it finally escaped from development hell. Terry Gillam, who was originally attached to direct (when the project was at Fox) called the comic “unfilmable,” and the struggle that went into making the movie happen seemed to support that statement.

But finally, in 2005, Warner Bros. got the rights again, and they enlisted Zack Snyder (“300”) to direct. Filming began in 2007, and Snyder’s “Watchmen” premiered in the spring of 2009, starring Malin Åkerman (as Silk Spectre II), Billy Crudup (as Dr. Manhattan), Matthew Goode (as Ozymandias), Carla Gugino (as Silk Spectre), Jackie Earle Haley (as Rorschach), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (as The Comedian), and Patrick Wilson (as Nite Owl II). (The film also saw the Crimebusters renamed “Watchmen,” because neither team in the comic was ever actually called “Watchmen.”) The film premiered to mixed reviews, and to this day remains rather polarizing to both critics and “Watchmen” comic fans alike.

HBO’s Series Is Not Actually an “Adaptation” of the Comic

Unlike Zack Snyder’s movie, HBO’s “Watchmen” is not a true adaptation of or sequel to the comic book. In fact, Damon Lindelof has gone on the record multiple times in saying that he’s not planning to remake the comic book for television. Instead, the “Watchmen” comics are canon, but the series takes place in a modern world in which the events of those comics are in the past.

Lindelof wrote in a letter to “Watchmen” fans that he posted on Instagram:

“We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the 12 issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created 30 years ago. Those issues are sacred ground and they will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted.

They will, however be remixed. … Those original 12 issues are our Old Testament. When the New Testament came along, it did not erase what came before it. Creation. The Garden of Eden. Abraham and Isaac. The Flood. It all happened. And so it will be with ‘Watchmen.’ The Comedian died. Dan and Laurie fell in love. Ozymandias saved the world and Dr. Manhattan left it just after blowing Rorschach to pieces in the bitter cold of Antarctica.

To be clear, Watchmen is canon…

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 ’80s of Reagan and Thatcher and Gorbachev… ours needs to resonate with the frequency of Trump and May and Putin and the horse 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.”

The only characters from the original comic book series who are confirmed to appear in the television series are Dr. Manhattan (who is still on Mars), the former Silk Spectre (played by Jean Smart), and the former Ozymandias (played by Jeremy Irons). While the promo trailers for the series tease characters in Rorschach masks, that is because the now-deceased Crimebuster has become a symbol for a white supremacist group called the Seventh Kalvary. And because the Seventh Kalvary target the homes of police officers, the police in this world also start wearing masks, becoming anonymous for safety purposes.

The Series Marks an Unexpected “Leftovers” Reunion

Standing front and center as the lead of “Watchmen,” is Emmy and Academy Award-winning actress Regina King, as Detective Angela Abar (aka Sister Night). Lindelof and King have worked together before, when King joined “The Leftovers” in its second season. But the reason this is an “unexpected” reunion is because, as Lindelof mentioned at the panel for “Watchmen” at New York Comic-Con (NYCC), he apparently had a rule about not working with actors twice — a rule he clearly broke hard to work with King on “Watchmen.”

In fact, he was so dedicated to the idea of King in the lead role that he sent the script directly to her house, with a note telling her how special the project was to him and that he couldn’t see anyone else but her take this journey with him.

And taking the journey with both of them is an ensemble that includes Tim Blake Nelson (as Looking Glass), Louis Gosset Jr. (as Will Reeves), Jeremy Irons, Jean Smart, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (as Cal Abar), among others.

Alternate History: President Robert Redford, No Cell Phones, and More

In the “Watchmen” comics, a series of events — including the aforementioned lack of Watergate scandal exposure, due to Woodward and Bernstein being murdered before their time, and the repeal of the 22nd amendment — Richard Nixon ends up serving as President for five terms, until 1985. In HBO’s “Watchmen,” actor-director Robert Redford is the President of the United States… and has been since 1992, making him the longest-serving President of this reality’s history. This isn’t just something Lindelof came up with out of nowhere: In the graphic novel, Redford is mentioned as a serious potential candidate for the presidency. But despite reports post-Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour, Robert Redford has not signed on to play President Robert Redford.

Fossil fuels have also been completely eliminated as a power source, with all cars running on electricity or fuel cells — due to innovations made by Dr. Manhattan. The internet and cell phones have been outlawed.

There’s also the Victims of Racial Violence Legislation, providing reparations for African-Americans. As Lindelof told Entertainment Weekly, this piece of legislation (aka “Redford-ations”) is “ a lifetime tax exemption for victims of, and the direct descendants of, designated areas of racial injustice throughout America’s history, the most important of which, as it relates to our show, is the Tulsa massacre of 1921.” And the legislation, in turn, paved the way for the series’ Defense of Police Act (DOPA) — which is why cops now wear masks to protect their identities — as the police were being targeted by terrorists for protecting those who benefited from the Victims of Racial Violence Legislation.

No, Rorschach Is Not Retroactively a White Supremacist

While the HBO series’ white supremacist group the Seventh Kalvary has taken on the style of Rorschach’s mask and adopted his manifesto to suit their own purposes, Lindelof has also made clear that this doesn’t mean Rorschach was a white supremacist. During the “Watchmen” panel at the TCA press tour, Lindelof made clear that he and his writers were aware that they’re “appropriating the original ‘Watchmen’,” just like the Seventh Kalvary is “appropriating iconic ideas like the Rorschach mask.” According to Lindelof, “The idea that the Seventh Kalvary, who seem to be presenting a white supremacist ideology in the pilot, have appropriated Rorschach based on his writings, as a white supremacist. Rorschach is dead, he’s not around to basically say, ‘You got it all wrong.’”

Lindelof spoke again about this recently during the show’s NYCC panel, about how he and the writers decided to, “on a metal, pretentious level” do the same thing with the Seventh Kalvary and Rorschach. “The Seventh Kalvary has appropriated Rorschach,” Lindelof explained.

And Yes, Of Course Alan Moore Has Nothing to Do With the Show

Alan Moore, historically, is not a fan of Hollywood adaptations of his work. Seriously, there’s a whole history of this. Take a look at “From Hell,” “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” and, to a lesser extent, “V For Vendetta” and it’s hard to blame him. He even had his name removed from anything related to Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen” movie and insisted that his share of the movie’s profits went to Dave Gibbons. As he told The Guardian in 2009, “Things that we did in Watchmen on paper could be frankly horrible or sensationalist or unpleasant if you were to interpret them literally through the medium of cinema. When it’s just lines on paper, the reader is in control of the experience – it’s a tableau vivant. And that gives it the necessary distance. It’s not the same when you’re being dragged through it at 24 frames per second.”

Damon Lindelof is well-aware of Moore’s thoughts on adaptations of his comics, and even with the shift in approach to the source material, Moore remains unwilling to be connected to the project at all. “I don’t think that I’ve made peace with it,” Lindelof said at the TCA press tour. “[Moore] doesn’t want to have any association or affiliation with ‘Watchmen’ ongoing, that we not use his name to get people to watch it, which I want to respect… I’ve made personal overtures to connect with him and explain to him a little bit about what we’re doing, and he made it clear that he didn’t want that to happen.”

While Dave Gibbons made a surprise appearance at the NYCC panel, that doesn’t change Moore continued lack of involvement and chances are it never will. But Gibbons did give his own stamp of approval, saying that, “If anyone was going to do a TV series of Watchmen, this was the person for the job.” and acknowledging that the series is more of “an amplification … than a dilution” of the source material.

You Might Not Want to Get Too Attached…

According to Lindelof, “Watchmen” was only designed for a single season. And considering Lindelof has first-hand experience at running a show that continues on without a clear-cut plan, it just might be a commendable decision to only have just the one season. The series’ success will most likely be the deciding factor on that though.

“We want to see how it’s received by you guys,” Lindelof said at the NYCC panel. “If the show comes out there and the conversation surrounding the show suggests you’re hungry for more, we’ll certainly take that into consideration. We want to deliver nine episodes that deliver a complete and total, amazing story.”