Hardcore Watchmen fans, rejoice! The Leftovers’ Damon Lindelof is said to be developing a TV series for the Alan Moore classic for HBO, and because they are “starting over from scratch”, it has nothing to do with Zack Snyder nor the film adaptation in 2009. Despite writer Alan Moore’s express disapproval of any spin-off or adaptation of his comic book masterpiece, we fans are still tingling with excitement at the prospect of a serialized show. Here are the top five things we definitely want to see in a Watchmen TV series!
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Give Us More Minutemen
Because the original comic book is ideal for episodic storytelling (not to mention that HBO definitely has the funding to make all of this happen), a Watchmen TV series would be free from the constraints of a typical movie runtime, and would therefore have the liberty to go into every detail on the many characters of the story—and that includes the Minutemen. No longer limited to quick flashbacks, the Minutemen can finally get the spotlight they deserve—perhaps even an episode or two for each of the superheroes. There’s certainly plenty of material from the original source; plus, the 2013 Before Watchmen spin-off comics has deepened the lore of these characters even more. How else will they be explored fully but in an HBO TV series?
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Tales of the Black Freighter
Something that the 2009 film could not show (and understandably so) was the interstitial content that popped up between storylines in the original comics titled Tales of the Black Freighter. Already a twisted horror in itself, the comic book within a comic book is a pirate story that tells of the journey of a marooned castaway who does whatever it takes to return home to save his family from the dreaded Black Freighter, and, of course, its story parallels that of the actual Watchmen storyline.
A Watchmen TV series would most definitely have enough air time to portray all of this, plus a handful of other narrative tricks that include newspaper clippings, magazine articles, the biography of Hollis Mason, and excerpts from Rorschach’s journal. Heck, this rich material alone could probably span a whole season, because why the hell not?
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More Rorschach
Arguably the iconic mascot of the whole comic series, Rorschach didn’t really get as much screen time as one would have hoped in the 2009 film adaptation. The original comics spent a great deal of panels to fully explore the backstory of this deeply twisted character—from his disturbed childhood to his radical adulthood and life as a crime fighter—and only a lengthy Watchmen TV series can possibly do his character exploration any real justice.
His morals—albeit twisted—actually have a pretty solid foundation, and his quotable quotes are always gold, both from his journal and from how he slowly corrupted his own psychiatrist. It would also be incredible to see how the show would portray his perceptions of the Rorschach ink blots that were shown to him in the comics—all of this drama until his eventual and intense demise.
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More Veidt, Too
And speaking of character drama, no supervillain has a deeper and more complicated backstory than Adrian Veidt, a.k.a. Ozymandias. I mean, sure, he does take the whole “the end justifies the means” thing too far, but he is awesome nonetheless. The series would most likely have character-driven episodes, and doing that for Veidt is just perfect because viewers can see just how detailed his criminal machinations and motivations are.
This would potentially open up more drama for Dr. Manhattan as well, who is now being portrayed as the main villain of the whole DC Rebirth series. A Watchmen TV series would just be the perfect way to tie the show into the current DC storyline.
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The Giant Alien Squid
Lastly, one of the big disappointments from the 2009 film was the absence of Veidt’s giant alien squid, which is totally understandable because the whole third act would probably just completely throw viewers off. The sudden appearance of a man-made alien creature definitely doesn’t fit with the tone of Snyder’s movie, but with a Watchmen TV series, anything can happen!
What are the things you’re excited to see in the HBO adaptation? Do you think this whole thing will take off, or will it bomb so much it’ll get cancelled right off the bat? Let us know what you think!
