As HBO moves forward with their television adaptation of the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons superhero opus Watchmen, a new announcement reveals the actors who will be starring in the series.
A new report from the Hollywood Reporter reveals that Regina King, Tim Blake Nelson, and Don Johnson have joined the cast of the new series, being helmed by The Leftovers and Lost showrunner Damon Lindelof.
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Louis Gossett Jr., Adelaide Clemens, and Andrew Howard were also announced as part of the cast.
King will be reunited with Lindelof after appearing on The Leftovers, which recently wrapped up its run on HBO. She has also had an impressive run on acclaimed TV series lately, including her nominated roles in American Crime.
The series will not be Nelson’s first comic book role, as he is known for his roles in The Incredible Hulk and the 2015 reboot of Fantastic Four. He’s also starring in the Coen Brothers’ upcoming Netflix anthology series The Ballad of Buster Scruggs as the title character.
Johnson will return to television for another major TV series, having previously starred in major stints on the series Miami Vice and Nash Bridges. His last TV foray, ABC’s Blood & Oil, was cancelled after just 10 episodes.
Watchmen has been subject to numerous controversies since it was first published. The critically hailed series has been praised as being transformative of superhero comics, but its publication has since soured writer Moore’s relationship with DC Comics. As one of the most popular collection of comics, Watchmen has been published in perpetuity by DC Comics as they continue to profit on its sales, keeping the rights to the characters from reverting back to Moore and Gibbons.
DC’s also published prequel comics by unrelated creators and has since brought those characters into their main publishing line through the DC Comics series Doomsday Clock.
The series was previously adapted as a film by Zack Snyder, and Lindelof has said that his series will not be a similar approach to the material.
“We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the twelve issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created thirty years ago,” Lindelof wrote on his Instagram account. “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.”
There’s no word yet on when HBO’s Watchmen will begin production or when the series is expected to air on the premium network.
