HBO has been releasing little glimpses of its adaptation of the classic graphic novel “Watchmen,” but now we’ve got a full teaser trailer.
“Watchmen” has already been turned into a big-budget film by director Zack Snyder. While the movie wasn’t a complete disaster, the results were still disappointing, since the original graphic novel (written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons) routinely appears on lists of the best comics of all time.
One of the main problems with the movie, at least in my view, is that Moore and Gibbons’ story is so perfectly suited to the comics format that any adaptation is going to feel like a step down. Perhaps “Watchmen” TV creator Damon Lindelof felt something similar, since he said last year that the comics “will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted” on the show.
Instead, he suggested that the series would treat the comics as “our Old Testament” and tell new stories about what comes after.
While the teaser mostly sticks to cryptic, ominous imagery, that does seem to be approach here — depicting a world where costumed vigilantes have been part of American history for decades, and where the catastrophic events that ended “Watchmen” are just part of the backstory.
By the way, Lindelof’s involvement is what makes me excited for the show. While he’s best-known for co-creating “Lost,” his most recent project was “The Leftovers,” which I’d argue is itself a contender for greatest television show of all time. (With an amazing performance from Regina King, who’s also in this trailer!) So even though I’m not convinced the world really needed another version of “Watchmen,” I’m very interested to see what Lindelof does next.
