Watchmen- HBO-(***Spoilers***)

Skerries

HBO are considering making the prequel comic stories into a show

http://collider.com/watchmen-tv-series-hbo-zack-snyder/

AlmightyCushion

Never read the comic but absolutely loved the film. By far my favourite comic book film. Hopefully this gets the greenlight and they really nail it.

They need to get Alan Moore involved in this. It seems a really risky move to make a prequel to what is considered one of the greatest novels (graphic novel, or not) of all time.

Nervous Wreck

[Deleted User] wrote: »

They need to get Alan Moore involved in this. It seems a really risky move to make a prequel to what is considered one of the greatest novels (graphic novel, or not) of all time.

Prequel has already been made in comics. Moore had nothing to do with it and wants nothing to do with any adaptations of his work.

Agent Coulson

Stats shooting in the coming weeks and with HBO behind it this could be amazing.


Production on HBO's new Watchmen reboot is rumored to begin production in the coming weeks and now, it appears that casting breakdowns for the show have begun to surface.

The Watchmen.

Angela Abraham: African-American female cop. Independent and intelligent, she’s also a realist. She’s married to Cal, with whom she has a daughter and is fiercely protective of them both.

Cal Abraham: African-American male who is the stay-at-home husband of Angela. While he seems at home as the king of his castle and being a loving husband and father, it’s clear his past has a different story to tell.

Looking Glass: A good looking cop, the native Oklahoman isn’t simple as his rural accent makes him appear to be. A top interrogator and behavioral scientist, he may also be a bit of a sociopath.

Panda: An ethnic desk cop, he’s cynical and tough and puts his job first. Not a friend to many, he uses comedy to keep people at bay.

Red Scare: Mafioso, track suit wearing cop. His Russian accent lends to his abrasiveness.

Pirate Jenny: An androgynous and lustful bisexual cop, Jenny is an anarchist at heart.

Jane Crawford: The wife of the police chief, Judd, Jane is a veterinarian who’s sharper than her guarded persona lets on.

Old Man: A former cop who is still an imposing figure despite his age.

HBO head Casey Bloys had nothing but nice things to say about the show while speaking at the TCA winter tour.

"I've read the script, it's amazing," Bloys said. "I'm thrilled, I imagine we'll shoot that this year."

Lost alum Damon Lindelof — a longtime fan of the comic series — is serving as executive producer on the show.

"Watchmen -- it was dangerous," Lindelof said earlier this at Vulture Fest LA. "And you can't be dangerous for dangerous' sake, but the reason that I'm doing this is these are dangerous times and we need dangerous shows. What we think about superheroes is wrong. I love the Marvel movies and we saw Justice League this morning and I’m all for Wonder Woman and Batman and I grew up on these characters, but we should not trust people who put on masks and say that they are looking out for us. If you hide your face, you are up to no good.”

The Watchmen was a 12-issue series written by legendary comics author Alan Moore, and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. In September of last year, HBO announced that it was moving forward with a pilot from Lindelof based on the comic series, and commissioned additional scripts.

http://comicbook.com/dc/2018/04/28/watchmen-hbo-casting-breakdowns/

CastorTroy

A letter from Damon Lindelof to Watchmen fans. There are multiple pages
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjFsj6JHEdq/

JP Liz V1

http://tvline.com/2018/05/23/watchmen-series-regina-king-don-johnson-cast-hbo/

Regina King, Don Johnson and Louis Gossett Jr join

JP Liz V1

Jeremy Irons joins

https://tvline.com/2018/06/26/jeremy-irons-cast-watchmen-hbo-pilot-damon-lindelof/

EoinMcLovin

Tom Mison, Frances Fisher and Jacob Ming-Trent join the pilot
https://tvline.com/2018/06/28/tom-mison-watchmen-pilot-hbo-cast/

Agent Coulson

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross To Compose Music

The pair won their Oscar for scoring 2010’s The Social Network and also have worked on such films as Patriots Day, Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and climate-change documentary Before the Flood, along with last year’s PBS documentary The Vietnam War. Reznor founded the influential industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, which broke out with its 1994 album The Downward Spiral, and Ross worked on the group’s 2000s albums before becoming a full-fledged member in 2016.

https://deadline.com/2018/09/watchmen-trent-reznor-atticus-ross-to-compose-music-for-damon-lindelofs-hbo-series-1202468375/

Agent Coulson

First teaser image.

Agent Coulson

Jean Smart joins the cast.


Other cast members now include...Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing and James Wolk

https://deadline.com/2018/11/watchmen-jean-smart-cast-hbo-series-damon-lindelof-1202498463/

pixelburp

There's a rumour knocking around that Jeremy Irons is playing

an older version of Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias

Agent Coulson

First look

https://www.instagram.com/watchmen/

pixelburp

That's beginning to look very interesting. Definitely liking the visuals on show so far, nothing specific from the original comic but you can see the clear inspirations too.

Doubtless Alan Moore will hate it

Slydice

Trailer dropped..

Agent Coulson

Oh I like the look of that.

banie01

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Oh I like the look of that.

Just said the same!
It's looking like a 20+ yr follow on to the end of the comic.
After Antarctica, and Rorschach seems to have taken on a V for Vendetta kind of vibe!

Really offers potential to spin out the stories!

pixelburp

Well that has me definitely intrigued; I wonder how much of the original text will sneak into the show. If Dr Manhattan is a lingering presence, being as he was the only actual superpowered creature in this universe.

All I ask is that this is a more straightforward tale than HBO's last high concept, genre show cos after the cryptic bollix of Westworld I'm automatically sceptical.

Unearthly

pixelburp wrote: »

Well that has me definitely intrigued; I wonder how much of the original text will sneak into the show. If Dr Manhattan is a lingering presence, being as he was the only actual superpowered creature in this universe.

All I ask is that this is a more straightforward tale than HBO's last high concept, genre show cos after the cryptic bollix of Westworld I'm automatically sceptical.

Don't think Damon Lindelof does straightforward :pac:

Trailer looks great

pixelburp

Unearthly wrote: »

Don't think Damon Lindelof does straightforward :pac:

Trailer looks great

Couldn't be any more labyrinthine than Westworld, and hopefully the themes of the original work better adapted than the superficially accurate Sunder film.

TheIrishGrover

I'd say it will be a bit more straightforward than Westworld. I like Westworld but Westworld is its own story about the nature of humanity and our responsibilities yadda yadda yadda blah blah. This should be a straight up thriller. Few curveballs here and there to keep us on our toes but not "Who is a cylon I mean host and who isn't and what defines a cylon I mean host"

I like the idea of exploring the Watchmen world rather than redoing the the Watchmen book. The world was a very interesting one, full of potential.

Much like when I heard they were doing a show about Gotham PD..... And then I saw that show (Gave up after 2 episodes).

But yeah. Looks interesting.

Mickeroo

I take it this is a sequel of sorts and some sort of cult has sprung up off the back of Rorshach's journal?

pixelburp

Mickeroo wrote: »

I take it this is a sequel of sorts and some sort of cult has sprung up off the back of Rorshach's journal?

Apparently: Lindelof & co. have been pretty circumspect when talking about the show, but seemingly it's a sequel set 20 odd years after the events of the book. Or maybe the film, again it's unclear and given how radically different the endgame (chortle) was between movie & book that could have big ramifications to this series.

EoinMcLovin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF259itWCnM

Slydice

Song choice felt right

pixelburp

Wow, didn't expect as many callbacks and visual nods to the original story, had wondered how much they might keep in the background. Still not clear whether it's following the end of the book or the movie, though I suspect it's the movie myself.

Mr Crispy

Dunno, think I saw a reference to the alien squid in there at 2:23ish? The shot with the woman in the barrister's wig?

pixelburp

Darch Nemesis wrote: »

Dunno, think I saw a reference to the alien squid in there at 2:23ish? The shot with the woman in the barrister's wig?

Oh really? Must watch that again. That ending requires a lot of explanation in many respects as it was always meant to be incredibly 'comicbook'; can't see an elegant way of this new show explaining it was all a big hoax by Veidt.

Mr Crispy

pixelburp wrote: »

Oh really? Must watch that again. That ending requires a lot of explanation in many respects as it was always meant to be incredibly 'comicbook'; can't see an elegant way of this new show explaining it was all a big hoax by Veidt.

True. If it was a barrister with a drawing of the squid on a flip chart, I'm guessing that scene was from Veidt's trial, or parole hearing or some such.

Sad Professor

pixelburp wrote: »

All I ask is that this is a more straightforward tale than HBO's last high concept, genre show cos after the cryptic bollix of Westworld I'm automatically sceptical.

Westworld's convoluted plotting and cryptic dialogue is not Lindelof's style. His shows have always been fairly straightforward, character-driven dramas with a mystery box element. The same couldn't be said of Westworld or any of Jonathan Nolan's stuff. Westworld is more puzzle box than mystery box. Puzzle boxes are meant to be solved, mystery boxes aren't.

I think they are just playing up the cryptic stuff for the trailer.

Skerries

did you notice the headline saying that Veidt officially declared dead?

pixelburp

Skerries wrote: »

did you notice the headline saying that Veidt officially declared dead?

Yup; so presumably he retreats into the background and manipulates again from behind the scenes? That same headline had "KKK vandalism forces Statue of Liberty Closure", so I'm wondering if perhaps this alt-world has more pronounced & violent racial tensions. They were always vigilantes even in our timeline, so would make sense they would be more emboldened in this one (maybe that's who those Rorschach types are?)

People are also speculating if Agent Blake is

a grown up version of Laurie, aka Silk Spectre II, older and living under her father's surname

Penn

pixelburp wrote: »

People are also speculating if Agent Blake is

a grown up version of Laurie, aka Silk Spectre II, older and living under her father's surname

Haven't been paying much attention to this bar the two trailers, but when I saw that I assumed it must be the case and maybe was previously announced or something.

Acosta

Trailer looks fantastic. However I didn't realise Lindelof was involved. That's changed things unfortunately.

pixelburp

Only now reading there were some juicy world-building details revealed at the Comic-Con panel; am in two minds whether to spoiler-text them or not, though will defer in the name of caution.

One item that I won't hide is the issue of comic vs. movie & which has primacy: Lindelof confirmed that the events of the comic are canon. The psychic squid is intact!

Re the state of this show's "2019":

“Robert Redford is the president of the United States and has been the President in the world of the show since the early ‘90s since they’ve abolished term limits,” Lindelof said. “We’re interested in exploring what would happen if a very well-intentioned liberal white man was President for way too long. Nixon was still president in ‘85. He remained president, was re-elected in ’88. He died in office. Gerald Ford became President as Nixon’s Vice President and then was defeated in ’92 by Robert Redford.”
[...]
“We’ve created a world that does not have an internet,” Lindelof said. “People do not have smart phones. Even though it’s set in 2019, the Redford administration saw the writing on the wall and stepped in to make sure we could not troll each other.”

If they could swing a cameo for the above, that'd kinda be amazing - and entirely doable.

(Taken from https://www.slashfilm.com/watchmen-series-details/)

Mr Crispy

Premiere date has been announced as October 20th. Nine episodes in the first season.

Agent Coulson

pixelburp

New trailer, bit more story and context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-33JCGEGzwU

JP Liz V1

Darch Nemesis wrote: »

Premiere date has been announced as October 20th. Nine episodes in the first season.

21st October for Sky Atlantic

JP Liz V1

Sky Atlantic on Monday October 21st at 9pm

Mr.Nice Guy

Don't like the look of this. I can imagine Alan Moore going into a rage watching that.

pixelburp

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Don't like the look of this. I can imagine Alan Moore going into a rage watching that.

Meh, Moore hates every adaptation by default; as great a writer as he was, he has a very dismissive, myopic view of adaptations. Once bitten n' all, but most talented writers understand the compromise of translation to screen.

kerplun k

11 days to go.
I think this is going to be epic.

Agent Coulson

That was an excellent opening episode.


Really looking forward to where they will take this.

Unearthly

Seems like it's upset people online as the main villain group are white supremacists :pac:

I thought it was a decent start. Lots going on and I'm interested to see where it goes

pixelburp

Always found it weird how liked Rorschach was, and certainly the Synder film couldn't hide its view of him as its flawed hero figure. He was a vicious psycho with a heavy nihilistic / anti-establishment streak (so maybe that was part of his appeal?), So I could totally see how supremacists might adopt his iconography. Looking forward to seeing this, and how they approach this world.

For those that HAVE seen it, will those who aren't familiar with the comic be lost? How accessable is it to newcomers: Might be the OHs bag, but as she hasn't read the comic she might be utterly lost.

fitz

pixelburp wrote: »

Always found it weird how liked Rorschach was, and certainly the Synder film couldn't hide its view of him as its flawed hero figure. He was a vicious psycho with a heavy nihilistic / anti-establishment streak (so maybe that was part of his appeal?), So I could totally see how supremacists might adopt his iconography. Looking forward to seeing this, and how they approach this world.

For those that HAVE seen it, will those who aren't familiar with the comic be lost? How accessable is it to newcomers: Might be the OHs bag, but as she hasn't read the comic she might be utterly lost.

A high-level recap like this should be enough for a bit of context: https://youtu.be/X28Iysf63t0

Watched the first episode, and thought it was great. Really looking forward to the rest of the season.
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross at their finest on the score too, can't wait for that to be available to listen to.

Slydice

Not knowing much about the Watchmen universe ..

(bar that it's an alternative history where the USSR still exists, Heros are out and about, Dr Manhattan is the most powerful being in existence and Heros are not all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows)

.. I thought it was a decent intro


Guessing Season One will be a battle between the Cops and the Rorschachs before unveiling a bigger menace* that was behind everything all along!



*which in time and a few seasons won't seem like such a big menace at all

Basq

This was decent..

.. always have higher expectations than normal for HBO dramas, so maybe I expected too much.

Any chance they'll have Robert Redford appearing at some stage?

kerplun k

Man, that was some punch of an ending. Don Johnson oozing charisma in that all too brief hour of television. So much to digest here, like WTF was that servant doing to Jeremy Irons?... oh and a horseshoe to cut a cake.... They're totally robots, right?

I was on the fence about that opening scene, I hate when story telling uses children to exploit emotional investment, especially if it’s gratuitous, and poorly executed, but my g/f just pointed out that the opening scene was actually based on a real event, F’n crazy.

Music and cinematography was amazing. Some really good performances in here as well. It’s been a while since something this good has come along, even longer since one thats released weekly.