Damon Lindelof Offers An Extensive Update On His WATCHMEN Pilot: "This New Story Must Be Original"
Damon Lindelof has shared a lengthy letter to address some of the recent concerns about his upcoming Watchmen pilot and has confirmed that it will not be a direct adaptation of the original graphic novel.
With showrunner Damon Lindelof strongly suggesting for months now that his upcoming Watchmen pilot wouldn't exactly be a faithful adaptation of Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons' source material, there's been quite a bit of online confusion about what to expect if/when HBO decides to movie forward with his potential series.
To quell some of the rampant online speculation, Lindelof went to Instagram yesterday to share a fairly lengthy letter to clarify that he is indeed crafting an original story, which will take place within the same universe, but during present day. In the letter, he reveals a number of interesting details about the series, including that while the events of the original graphic novel will be canon, the series will not serve as any sort of sequel. He adds that it will explore a number of new characters, but doesn't offer much insight on whether he also plans on introducing established characters like Rorschach, Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, and/or Silk Spectre.
Read an excerpt from the letter and keep scrolling for the full piece below:
“We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the twelve issues [Alan Moore and Dave 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. 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.
Just the way Mr. Moore wrote it, the way Mr. Gibbons drew it and the way the brilliant John Higgins colored it.
But we are not making a "sequel" either. This story will be set in the world its creators painstakingly built... but in the tradition of the work that inspired it, 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. Many describe Watchmen as "dark," but I've always love its humor - worshipping at the altar of the genre whilst simultaneously trolling it. As such...
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..."
Day 140.
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