Helmed by Damon Lindelof, HBO's Watchmen series serves as a new and original story based within
the world created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
And the cast members assembled for the show are top-notch.
From Academy Award winners to Coen Brothers regulars, here's where you've probably seen
them before.
Watchmen features active police officers who wear masks while on duty to defend against
the Seventh Kalvary, a violent group inspired by the original comic book's character Rorschach.
Since members of the Kalvary wear masks that mimic Rorschach's signature ink-blot look,
the police don masks as well, thanks to a law that allows officers to hide their true
identities from those who might target them.
One of those officers is Detective Angela Abar, played by Regina King, who masquerades
under the identity of Sister Night.
"I got a nose for white supremacy, and he smells like bleach."
King has had a long and successful career in Hollywood, which becomes clear when you
look at her slate of major awards.
She's nabbed three Emmys and a Golden Globe, and then she took home an Academy Award for
her supporting turn in 2018's If Beale Street Could Talk.
You might've also seen her in films like Boyz n the Hood, in supporting TV roles on shows
like The Big Bang Theory, and as the star of Netflix's short-lived Seven Seconds.
For a little while, Jeremy Irons' role in Watchmen was kept quiet, lending an air of
mystery to the proceedings.
But ultimately an HBO featurette broke the news about who he would be playing.
The behind-the-scenes look featured cast interviews referring to Irons as Ozymandias, a.k.a. Adrian
Veidt, a hugely important character from the original comic known as the "World's Smartest
Man."
"Would you like it to occur to me, sir?"
"There are so many things I'd like to occur to you.
All right, dimwits.
On with the show!"
Irons is one of a select number of performers who have won the Triple Crown of Acting: an
Emmy, a Tony, and an Oscar.
He's had an incredible career on the stage and screen, and you've undoubtedly seen, or
heard, at least one of his acclaimed performances over the years.
One of his most famous performances only features his voice, but even so, his turn as the villainous
Scar in The Lion King is unforgettable.
Beyond the African plains, his notable roles include Reversal of Fortune, for which he
won his Oscar, and Alfred Pennyworth in the DCEU.
In a world that requires constant protection for police officers under attack from roving
terrorist groups, the police chief has to be a powerful presence, protecting his officers
from danger while still somehow trying to keep the peace.
In this version of Watchmen, that job falls to Don Johnson as Chief Judd Crawford.
Johnson has led an illustrious career, but he might not be immediately recognizable to
younger viewers.
Despite a few high-profile recent supporting turns in movies like Django Unchained and
Book Club, he's undoubtedly best known for his time as Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice,
the hit NBC detective show that ran from 1984 to 1989.
These days, Johnson might be best known to some people for his talented offspring, as
his daughter Dakota Johnson has made a name for herself in movies like Fifty Shades of
Grey and Bad Times at the El Royale.
"I've had some ladies walk up to me and go, 'What do you think of your daughter in this
movie?'"
One of the new characters in this version of Watchmen is known as Looking Glass, and
he's played by Tim Blake Nelson.
He's a super-sharp cop with excellent interrogation skills who might have a more sinister personality
lurking under the surface.
In an interview on the Empire Podcast, Nelson revealed,
"I don't really completely understand him, and that's intentional.
Damon Lindelof metes out facts about your character as you go along...so I'm learning
as I go along who this guy is, and trying to...It's almost like fresco painting.
The clay is always wet."
"You know what strange means."
Luckily, Nelson is no stranger to complicated characters.
Some of his most notable roles include his collaborations with fraternal filmmaking duo
Joel and Ethan Coen.
He played one of the escaped convicts in O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the titular singing
cowboy in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
He's also shown up on TV occasionally, including memorable guest turns on the likes of Unbreakable
Kimmy Schmidt and Modern Family.
An ideal way to connect Moore's Watchmen universe to HBO's version is to feature familiar characters
who have aged since audiences last checked in with them.
So fans will likely be pleased to see Silk Spectre once again.
As played by Jean Smart, she's now working as an FBI agent and going by the name Laurie
Blake.
A formidable performer, Smart is the perfect person for such an indispensable character.
From 1986 to 1991, she was best known for her leading role on the popular CBS sitcom
Designing Women.
Since then, she's continued an incredible career, including roles on Frasier as an old
classmate of Frasier's and on 24 as the First Lady of the United States.
In 2015, she appeared in the second season of FX's Fargo, for which she nabbed the eighth
Emmy nomination of her career.
Beyond the small screen, her film roles include a small but crucial part in 2018's A Simple
Favor.
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