On any kind of normal day, “Watchmen” being rebooted for TV would be major news. But with Daniel Day-Lewis retiring from acting, and Phil Lord and Chris Miller exiting/being fired from the Han Solo movie, “Watchmen” got overshadowed. But, it’s still a pretty big deal.
Variety reports that “Lost” and “The Leftovers” guru Damon Lindelof is bringing an adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons‘ celebrated graphic novel to HBO. While Zack Snyder turned the material in a movie that was devoted to recreating each frame of the comic, it’s worth remembering that previously, a number of directors tried to crack the material including Darren Aronofsky, Paul Greengrass, and Terry Gilliam. The latter in particular said that it was “unfilmable,” but presciently commented that “Watchmen” would be far better served as a miniseries.
“Reducing [the story] to a two or two-and-a-half hour film […] seemed to me to take away the essence of what ‘Watchmen’ is about,” he told Empire in 2000.
Well, Gilliam will hopefully get to see himself proven right. There’s no word yet on what Lindelof’s approach might be, but perhaps “The Leftovers” might provide a clue. The first season of the show more or less followed Tom Perrotta‘s source material, while subsequent seasons expanded on that world. Moore has long distanced himself from any adaptations, even to the point of taking his credit off Snyder’s film, and passing on his royalty checks to Gibbons, but he’ll probably be wound up about this anyway.
“Watchmen” is beloved material, and fans will no doubt be watching this project with some degree of scrutiny. But we’re pretty excited to see what Lindelof does with it.