Watchmen, the iconic superhero comic series created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons is currently in the process of being developed into a new HBO series. Damon Lindelof, whose TV work includes 2004s Lost and 2014s The Leftovers, has been working behind the scenes on the series for little over a month now.
This will not be the first time the iconic comic series has been bought to life, as back in 2009 Zack Snyder adapted the comic series for the big screen. Sticking very close to the source material the movie received a mixed reception from fans and was not overly successful at the box office.
Back in September, HBO ordered a Watchmen TV pilot and Lindelof has been given the task of bringing the show to life.
Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, 2009.
Lindelof recently spoke at Vulture Vest (via IndieWire) about the project and explained why he believes a new Watchmen adaptation is important.
Lindelof says that when he first read Moore’s graphic novel, it felt “dangerous”, and that feeling played a big part in his decision to tackle the material:
“The reason I’m doing this is because these are dangerous times and we need dangerous shows. What we think about superheroes is wrong.”
In the past, Lindelof has also shared his thoughts on Snyder’s adaptation, saying that he thought the Batman v Superman director did the best he could within the confines of the medium of film:
“I think it’s a very complicated question. You almost can’t judge the movie purely as a movie because of its relation to the fact that it is an adaptation of the graphic novel. That being said I think that Zack Snyder made the best possible movie adaptation considering the fact that he was really out to not revise things, the fans really wanted a literal adaptation. That’s exactly what he delivered. He delivered that with an incredible amount of grace and skill. But I think that, for those of us who basically said “How do you do Watchmen in a two and a half hour movie?” He has now answered: “This is how”. You just have to kind of leave it at that. Over time, I think history will basically tell whether the movie was brilliant or less than, but all I can say is how incredibly impressed I personally watching what Zack had accomplished.”
I personally loved Snyder’s Watchmen as well as much of Lindelof’s work in both film and TV, so I am very excited to see what he does with a TV adaptation.
Be sure to check back with us for further updates on the show as it’s released.
