Damon Lindelof penned a letter to fans of the ‘Watchmen’ who were concerned about his plans for the television series based on the iconic comic book from writer Alan Moore and artist David Gibbons.
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Damon Lindelof loves the Watchmen just as much as you do.
The prolific writer behind series such as Lost and The Leftovers is currently in the midst of adapting the classic comic book mini-series the Watchmen into a new television show for HBO.
Lindelof has been a massive fan of the Watchmen for many years and he’s even quoted on the cover of one of the most recent editions of the trade paperback collecting all the comic books that made up the series.
That being said, Lindelof has heard plenty of concerns from fans of the Watchmen over his adaptation and what that will look like when the show finally debuts on HBO.
In 2009, writer and director Zack Snyder created a Watchmen movie that stayed very close to the original source material that had faltered and failed numerous times in the past whenever a studio tried to develop the property into a film.
This time around, Lindelof says that his Watchmen story isn’t a recreation of the 12-issue comic book series and it’s not exactly a sequel either.
“We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the twelve issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created thirty years ago. Those issues are sacred ground and they will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted. They will, however, be remixed,” Lindelof wrote on Instagram.
“Because the bass lines in those familiar tracks are just too good and we’d be fools not to sample them. Those original twelve issues are our Old Testament. When the New Testament came along, it did not erase what came before it. Creation. The Garden of Eden. Abraham and Isaac. The Flood. It all happened. And so it will be with Watchmen. The Comedian died. Dan and Laurie fell in love. Ozymandias saved the world and Dr. Manhattan left it just after blowing Rorschach to pieces in the bitter cold of Antarctica. To be clear, Watchmen is canon.”
While Lindelof refused to call his Watchmen adaptation a sequel, it certainly sounds like that’s what will be happening with his television series being made for HBO. By all accounts, Lindelof is carrying on the story of the Watchmen years after the events in the original comic books — at least based on what he’s saying during his letter.
“The Old Testament was specific to the Eighties of Reagan and Thatcher and Gorbachev…ours needs to resonate with the frequency of Trump and May and Putin and the horse that he rides around on, shirtless. And speaking of Horsement, the end of the world is off the table which means the heroes and villains — as if the two are distinguishable — are playing different stakes entirely.
“Some of the characters will be unknown. New Faces. New masks to cover them. We also intend to revisit the past century of costumed adventuring through a surprising yet familiar set of eyes and it is here where we’ll be taking our greatest risks.”
Lindelof and his crew are already months into preparation for the Watchmen series, although no casting information or production schedule has been announced as of yet.
Because of that, there’s no word on when the Watchmen series will debut but judging by Lindelof’s passionate letter, there are going to be quite a few interested people just waiting to see what he’s developed.
