Tick tock.
Watchmen is considered by many to be the greatest superhero story ever told, so there was no chance that Hollywood was just going to go to that well once and then leave it be forever.
The 2009 movie adaptation was A LOT better than you remember/heard, but it did stray significantly from the original text in a number of different ways.
Looking to stray even further, this new adaptation seems to be a direct sequel to the original graphic novel, picking up on the thread of Rorschach’s recorded messages that were made public, and the fallout from everything he revealed in them.
Here, it looks like this new army of angry Rorschach followers are ready to go to war with the government officials, and any of the heroes who helped in that original massive cover-up involving (SPOILERS) a semi-falsified alien invasion.
So we’re getting all of the remaining heroes, except several decades later, as well as a group of new heroes, villains, and those in-between, who must choose a side in that upcoming war.
Coming from Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers), with a cast including including Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk), Jeremy Irons (Justice League), Don Johnson (Django Unchained), Jean Smart (Legion), Tim Blake Nelson (The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs), Louis Gossett Jr. (Roots), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman), Hong Chau (Downsizing), and the score provided by Oscar-winners Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Social Network, Gone Girl).
Between this and The Boys, it looks like 2019 is the year that TV makes superheroes extremely edgy.
Watchmen is set to premiere on HBO (and, presumably, Sky Atlantic and NOW TV) this Autumn.
Clip via HBO
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