The new HBO series inspired by the classic comic book series Watchmen has been shrouded
in mystery thus far, with stories and characters kept largely under wraps.
While we wait to learn the truth, here's a look at everything we know and think we know.
Rumors about Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof wanting to develop a Watchmen series brewed
as early as 2014, but it wasn't until August 2018 that Variety reported HBO had officially
given the show the greenlight.
In November 2017, at Vulture Festival L.A., Lindelof talked to The Good Place creator
Mike Schur about his motivations for developing the series, saying,
"Watchmen it was dangerous…the reason that I'm doing this is these are dangerous times,
and we need dangerous shows."
In May 2018, Lindelof posted a five-page letter on Instagram addressed to Watchmen fans, retelling
pieces of his own life story in the non-linear style in which we learn the story of Dr. Manhattan
in Watchmen #4.
He went on to describe his vision as not so much an adaptation as a "remix" of the original
story likening the comic book series to the Bible's Old Testament and his series to the
New Testament.
So far, the only major character from the comics confirmed to appear in the series is
the mastermind Ozymandias, played by Jeremy Irons, and he's clearly much older than he
was in the original story.
There's also the cult of Rorschach, but it's doubtful the original is among them.
The other masked characters all appear brand new.
The question still remains: If the events of the HBO Watchmen series take place after
the events of the comic book series, then did things unfold as they did in the comic
book series?
For example, did Ozymandias' plan conclude with the appearance of the artificial alien
like in the comics, or with the faked Dr. Manhattan assault on New York City from Zack
Snyder's film?
And what happened to the other characters from the comic?
In May 2018, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Regina King, Louis Gossett Jr., Don Johnson,
Adelaide Clemens, Tim Blake Nelson, and Andrew Howard had been cast in the series pilot,
and that King would be the lead.
There was no information about who the actors would be playing...
"I can't say anything!"
"You really can't?"
"You might disappear if I do!"
...but since-released images, a leaked character breakdown, the trailer, and the series' IMDb
page, has shed some light.
King's character is Angela Abraham, who will be one of the series' masked vigilantes, it
seems.
She wears black leather clothing, including a hooded jacket and a white shirt.
A greyish-black material covers the bottom half of her face.
In the trailer, she also pins what appears to be a police badge to her outfit.
Nelson is listed on IMDb with the name Looking Glass, making it seem likely he's playing
the vigilante with the reflective mask.
Most of the others are listed with what appear to be vigilante codenames: Clemens is Pirate
Jenny, Howard is Red Scare, and Gossett is Old Man.
Johnson's as-yet-unnamed character is one of the most prominently featured in the trailer,
and it seems likely he plays a high-ranking police officer.
A leaked character breakdown mentions a woman who is "wife of the police chief, Judd."
If the breakdown is to be believed, there's a good chance Judd is Johnson's character.
In June 2018, Deadline reported Yahya Abdul-Mateen II had been added to HBO's Watchmen cast,
and it won't be Mateen's first role in a superhero production; he was the vengeful antagonist
Black Manta in Aquaman.
While not a lot is known about his role so far, Abdul-Mateen's character Cal Abraham
appears to be the husband of Angela Abraham.
He's listed as her stay-at-home husband in a leaked character breakdown, and a shot in
the first Watchmen teaser trailer shows the two embracing.
"Are we safe?"
In January 2018, seasoned television director Nicole Kassell was confirmed as director of
the Watchmen's pilot, as well as executive producer for the series.
Kassell directed two episodes of Lindelof's The Leftovers, and she's had steady directing
work since her first TV directorial credit for an episode of the CBS medical drama 3
lbs.
Much of that work includes credits on successful, acclaimed shows such as The Closer, Castle
Rock, Better Call Saul, The Killing, Westworld, and The Americans, among others.
HBO's official Watchmen Instagram account has been a wealth of cryptic but interesting
reveals.
Many images are little more than production photos, but there are some more intriguing
images, including short videos referencing the original Watchmen or simply showing us
a slice of this alternate America.
One video shows an altered U.S. flag flapping in the breeze, while another shows the skull-and-bones
pirate flag we briefly see in the trailer that reminds any Watchmen reader of the "Tales
of the Black Freighter" pirate story.
Yet another video shows what appears to be Regina King's vigilante character walking
toward a police officer and one briefly shows her unmasked, looking distressed.
One more clip begins with two armed police officers and cuts to Jeremy Irons as Ozymandias...
"It's only just begun."
...while another shows the aging superhero blowing out a single candle on a birthday
cake.
In the Watchmen comic, Rorschach is a mentally unstable vigilante who believes in taking
extreme measures for the greater good.
He's killed by Dr. Manhattan, but we soon learn he's arranged for his journal to be
mailed to a right-wing publication, the New Frontiersman, in the hopes that Ozymandias'
plot would be revealed.
The story's final page takes place in the Frontiersman office, where an exhausted editor
tells his assistant to pick a piece of reader mail from an overflowing pile, where Rorschach's
journal sits, and to run a story based on it.
"Um, well, I guess something from the crank file."
What seems to be a fanatical group based on Rorschach exists in the future-set series,
strongly implying the vigilante's journal and its revelations did see the light of day.
Yet the New Frontiersman is portrayed as a small fringe publication, so there's no guarantee
any story it ran would be received as anything more than a conspiracy theory by society at
large.
This new pack of Rorschachs may very well be culled from Frontiersman readers and like-minded
conspiracy theorists.
Another Watchmen cast member came to light in January 2019 when it was announced Good
Trouble's Dustin Ingram would join the show.
Bleeding Cool spotted a brief reveal about Ingram's Watchmen character buried in a story
about Ingram being cast in Amazon's upcoming Utopia: Deadline offhandedly pointed out that
in Watchmen, Ingram will play, quote, "Agent Petey, a junior FBI agent, with a vast knowledge
of the vigilantes (the Watchmen)."
Is Petey an expert on the new vigilantes like Looking Glass and Regina Park's masked character,
or does his expertise revolve around Rorschach, Nite Owl and the other comic characters?
Deadline's parenthetical mention of "the Watchmen" doesn't help much, because in the comic book
series, "Watchmen" is not a team name.
None of the heroes refer to themselves as Watchmen.
The title comes from the work of the Roman poet Juvenal, whose most famous line can be
translated from Latin, "Who watches the watchmen?"
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