Damon Lindelof is the creator of HBO’s Watchmen.
American premium cable giant HBO has ordered Alan Moore’s groundbreaking DC Comics graphic novel to series. HBO posted a teaser from the official Twitter handle. The teaser states, “Nothing ever ends,” and promises the series will debut in 2019. It also has the famous recurring blood-stained smiley symbol that serves as the logo for the graphic novel.
Damon Lindelof is the creator of the series. He is also a prolific screenwriter and producer and has worked in ABC’s Lost as showrunner and co-created HBO’s own TV series The Leftovers.
Even for a network that is known for so-called prestige television, Watchmen may be the next flagship after Game of Thrones. The source material is considered to be one of the – if not the – best graphic novels of all time. The Time magazine included it in their List of the 100 Best Novels. The BBC described Watchmen as “The moment comic books grew up.”
The HBO series, however, will not be a direct adaptation. Lindelof has said that his Watchmen will be the New Testament to Moore’s Old Testament on his Instagram account. While speaking to IndieWire, Lindelof said, “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 Eighties of Reagan and Thatcher and Gorbachev. Ours needs to resonate with the frequency of Trump and May and Putin and the horse that 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.”
Nothing ever ends. #WatchmenHBO #DamonLindelof pic.twitter.com/ioJU0dQipw
— HBO (@HBO) August 17, 2018
The official synopsis released via IndieWire says, “Set in an alternate history where “superheroes” are treated as outlaws, “Watchmen” embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel while attempting to break new ground of its own.”