Since the announcement of the Watchmen TV show very little has been divulged about this project. However, thanks to the trailers and the shows recent presentations. We now know more about Damon Lindelof’s new story set in the Watchmen universe. The Watchmen TV show will serve as a direct sequel 30 years after the events in the movie. There’s an ageing Ozymandias played by Jeremy Irons, a white supremacist group that has clearly taken their aesthetic from the now-deceased vigilante Rorschach, what seems to be Dr Manhattan sightings and returning character in the form of Silk Spectre a.k.a. Laurie Juspeczyk, who will be played by Jean Smart. Also, there will be new characters namely Regina King’s as Angela Abar and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Cal Abar.
The show will apparently be more focused on introducing fans to new characters rather than dwelling on the ones that featured in Alan Moores critically acclaimed novel. In an interview with The Wrap, Lindelof stated that he was open to casting the actors from the movie but they won’t be playing the same roles.
“Maybe. Again, I don’t want to be cutesy about it,” he said. “Our Watchmen, with two notable exceptions, is trying to introduce new characters as opposed to dwelling on characters from the classic. But never say never.”
The two exceptions he’s referring to are of course the ageing Ozymandias a.k.a. Adrien Veidt (Jeremy Irons) and Laurie Juspeczyk a.k.a. Silk Spectre (Jean Smart). He said with the show being set 30 years after the events in the movie it would be too confusing to have the same characters appear.
“Because then that [movie] becomes canon,” he said. “In the same way that the Marvel movie ‘X-Men’ are outside the canon of the Disney movies.”
“If Patrick Wilson was suddenly Nite Owl — by the way, he’d be too young, our Nite Owl is in his early 70s — if he were to appear. I don’t want to confuse people.”
Watchmen will be airing on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK this October.
