HBO's Watchmen: Everything you need to know about Damon Lindelof's new series

Watchmen has become the most recent graphic novel to be adapted for the the small screen, after US network HBO have picked up the 1980s cult hit for their first comic book adaptation. Filming has reportedly begun on the pilot for the new series, which was created by Damon Lindelof, co-creator of dystopian drama The Leftovers.

For those in the dark, Watchmen began as a 12 issue comic book published during 1986 and 1987, before being republished as a graphic novel. The story is set in an alternate 1985 America where Richard Nixon is still president, tensions are escalating between the United States and the Soviet Union and most costumed superheroes are in retirement or working for the government.

It has gone on to be come one of the best-selling graphic novels of all time and been lauded with accolades: it was the first graphic novel to win the Hugo Award in 1988,  and Time magazine labelled it the greatest graphic novel of all time in 2009. 

So it's no wonder that the new series has created such a buzz, and that fans of the original Alan Moore comics are keen to get an idea of what to expect. To help, we've compiled everything there is to know so far about the upcoming series. 

Watchmen probably won't be with us for a while

The script may have been written as early as last September, but filming (in Atlanta) has only just begun on the pilot. Given the average length of a production this scale, it is unlikely that we will see the series hit our screens until at least early 2019.

It will probably be very expensive 

HBO are hardly adverse to huge budgets. The pilot episode of Broadwalk Empire was a startling $18 million dollars, while Westworld had one of the most costly pilots ever at $25 million. 

Zack Snyder's 2009 film adaption of Watchmen cost somewhere in the region of $130-180 million to produce. Given that the series will be on HBO and the content seems to make spending a necessity, we don't doubt that Lindelof's series will have a huge budget.

This won't be Damon Lindolf's first big-budget creation

Lindelof also wrote and produced Prometheus (2012) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), as well as co-creating Lost (2004) and the critically acclaimed HBO series The Leftovers.  All of which suggests he knows how to deploy the dollars into astonishing effects – even if the plot could get fiendishly entangled (looking at you, Lost).

It will not be a direct adaptation of the comic books 

Speaking of plot, in a lengthy Instagram post, Lindelof sought to reassure disgruntled fans that he was not creating another Snyder-style reboot. As he stated: “We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the 12 issues Mr Moore and Mr Gibbons created 30 years ago, those issues are sacred ground and they will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted.

“They will however be remixed. Because the bass lines in those familiar tracks are just too good and we’d be fools not to sample them. Those original 12 issues are our Old Testament. When the New Testament came along it did not erase what came before it... And so it will be with Watchmen."

But it won't be a sequel either

Although Lindelof will be setting "this story... in the world its creators painstakingly built", he knows if he wants to captivate audiences (and truly create something worthy of a multi-million dollar budget), it needs to be original.  The writer and producer told his followers:

“It has to vibrate with the seismic unpredictability of its own tectonic plates. It must ask new questions and explore the world through a fresh lens."

It will be set in the present day and reflect the current political climate

Alan Moore sought to reflect the anxieties of the mid-Eighties and Cold War-era in Watchmen, and the idea of a nuclear third World War was not a completely alien one. But, as Lindelof recognises, the "Reagan, Thatcher and Gorbachev" of Moore's day are now the "Trump, May and Putin" of modern audiences, and thus all the "fake news" of the modern era and current political contentions will likely be played out. 

You may not recognise some of the characters 

The series is set to "revisit the past century of Costumed Adventuring through a surprising yet familiar set of eyes," digging up a collection of new outfits, new masks and new characters. It is here that Lindelof believes the series will be taking its greatest risk. 

But you will recognise the actors playing them 

According to Deadline, the most recent casting for the series is Jeremy Irons (Justice league/ Batman v Superman) who has reportedly secured the role of an "aging and imperious lord of a British manor." This will be his second leading role in a big-budget TV drama following his part in Showtime's The Borgias (2011).

Joining Irons are Regina King (The Leftovers), Don Johnson (Miami Vice), Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother Where Art Thou), Louis Gossett Jr (Fiddler in Roots), Adelaide Clemens and Andrew Howard (Taken 3).

It may not be as dark as you would expect 

Given Snyder's 2009 noir adaption of the comic, one might expect this adaption to follow on the same dark trail. However, Lindelof is looking to bring out the humour of the graphic novels. The series has been described as "fresh, nasty, electric and absurd," so expect the unexpected. 

Watchmen writer, Alan Moore, will probably dislike it

Initially Moore was excited about the prospect of a Watchmen movie, and happily sold the film rights to 20th Century Fox in 1987. However,  the writer has gone on to detest any adaptions of his work into film or television, and publicly distanced himself from the comic book world in a 2010 interview with Wired.   

Lindeloff addressed the inevitability of a lukewarm reception to his television creation from Moore, but noted that his partner, Dave Gibbons, had given his blessing and refused to believe that his adaption of the comic books would be unethical. 

Although legally, Lindeloff is in the clear, we do wonder how Alan Moore will react when the series is released.