HBO Greenlights 'Watchmen' TV Series Adaptation
HBO confirms rumors as it officially endorses a TV adaptation of "Watchmen" under Damon Lindelof's direction. The network has ordered backup scripts for the new show, Lindelof's next one after drama series "The Leftovers."
A "Watchmen" TV Series now has a green light to a pilot episode from HBO, as Deadline confirms. The source material itself is a phenomenon that sold more than a million copies, making it to Time magazine's list of top 100 novels, as DC Comics point out.
The events of "Watchmen," as described in the original comics, describes an alternate reality where masked superheroes are a part of daily life. The timeline is set in the 1980's America, albeit with a few changes.
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The United States won in Vietnam, with President Nixon staying in power. The cold war with Russia remains an intractable stalemate, with the "nuclear clock" permanently set at an imminent five minutes to midnight.
Lindelof called attention to his possible role in the HBO adaptation by posting a cryptic picture of a figure's feet, under which a caption reads "In Gratitude." The Instagram post is supposedly a reference to the trophy given to Nite Owl when he resigned from the superhero business, as explained by Vulture.
While there might not be enough source material to carry through to an entire TV series, Lindelof could take HBO's "Watchmen" to the same direction he took "The Leftovers." His previous show took material from the book to the small screen in the span of its first season and used the next two seasons after that to deliver new stories to fans, as Screen Rant notes.
The video below shows Zack Snyder's 2009 movie adaptation of "Watchmen," a high bar to clear for Lindelof as he starts to tackle HBO's TV adaptation of the cult classic. More news on the pilot episode is expected months from now, as the show is just taking off from the drawing board.
