Damon Lindelof wrote a lengthy letter to his fans and opened up about his Watchmen series for HBO. In his five-page open letter, the showrunner promised his fans that the series will be an original and they will not adapt the 12-issue comic miniseries by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons or Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie.
Lindelof, the screenwriter and producer best known for Television series Lost and The Leftovers, posted the five-page letter on his official Instagram account providing a few details about the highly anticipated HBO drama series.
“We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the twelve issues [Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons] created thirty years ago,” Lindelof writes in the letter. “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 … This new story must be original. 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. Most importantly, it must be contemporary… The tone will be fresh and nasty and electric and absurd… 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 risk.” Scroll down to view the full post.
Further, the showrunner explained that the upcoming show will not be a sequel to the iconic original series either. He promised that it will be “contemporary” resonating the “frequency of Trump and May and Putin and the horse that he rides around on, shirtless.”
As he goes on with the letter, he reveals that the series will include new faces and some characters “will be unknown.” At the same time, he expressed his intention of revisiting the “past century of Costumed Adventuring through a surprising yet familiar set of eyes.”
Its indeed a risky move to create new characters that weren’t a part of the comics and to pursue a new story away from its original adaptation. but it will give the show the freedom to take on current subjects.
Though it will be a DC Comics-based tv show, it looks like it won’t have major similarities to the comics. It is also possible that the series may not come close to Zack Snyder’s big screen adaptation as well.
It will be interesting to see how the showrunners will attempt to make its story unique and make it a fresh experience for fans who have read the comics as well.
Currently, the pilot for Watchmen is expected to be filmed in Atlanta later this month. Hopefully, fans will get to hear more once production begins.
The original story of Watchmen depicts an alternate history wherein emergence of superheroes in the 1940s and 1960s changed the history of America. It features altered outcomes of the real world events such as Vietnam War. A group of retired superheroes is forced to come together for an investigation into the murder of a government-sponsored unraveling a massive conspiracy.
Lindelof’s Watchmen does not have a premiere date yet. Stay tuned for more updates and information.
Source: Damon Lindelof
