‘Watchmen’ Gets Series Order from HBO for 2019 Air Date
In the final issue of Alan Moore’s seminal graphic novel Watchmen, Doctor Manhattan leaves the story by stating that “nothing ever ends”. Fittingly, the official announcement that HBO has boosted Damon Lindelof’s pilot for a Watchmen sequel, which is a sequel to the comic, for a full series set to arrive in 2019.
HBO made the official announcement of the show’s expected release window via their Twitter:
Nothing ever ends. #WatchmenHBO #DamonLindelof pic.twitter.com/ioJU0dQipw
— HBO (@HBO) August 17, 2018
While Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Watchmen was incredibly faithful to the source material with the exception of replacing a fake giant alien squid destroying much of New York City at the end with a series of energy bombs that destroy multiple cities, this series appears to be following the events of the original comic book. (However, provided that you don’t care to read the comic, seeing the movie will probably help you understand this setting on a clear level.) The show will also be ignoring the events of the ongoing Doomsday Clock comic series from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, as that serves as a sequel/crossover between the Watchmen Universe and the Prime DC Universe. Suffice to say, you won’t see Superman popping into this story.
Beyond that, details on the story are pretty scarce. Entertainment Weekly has shared some info in the form of a pretty vague logline: “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.” Lindelof is no stranger to working with HBO with the critically-acclaimed sci-fi drama The Leftovers, and he’s stated on multiple occasions that the graphic novel is something he loves and influences his own creative process as a storyteller. HBO will have a pretty big year between the final season of Game of Thrones, Season 3 of True Detective, and the return of Veep (possibly along with Season 3 of Westworld, although a 2020 release window seems more likely at this point), with Watchmen capping things off.
Watchmen will air on HBO sometime in 2019. The show’s cast includes Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Adelaide Clemens, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, Lily Rose Smith, and Adelynn Spoon.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
