Watchmen Showrunner Damon Lindelof Clarifies Controversial Comments

Watchmen will kick off on HBO before the end of the month, and people are still a bit unsure of [...]

Watchmen will kick off on HBO before the end of the month, and people are still a bit unsure of what will be waiting for them. Damon Lindelof is steady clarifying statements he made prior to the release of his latest project and looking forward to putting out a show that the fans will enjoy. Watchmen fans have had a lot to look over in the last couple of years as Doomsday Clock happened in DC Comics.

Still, Lindelof found himself in some hot water when he said that the new Watchmen would avoid moralizing when describing his story. The series will tackle some elements of common-day problems through the lens of a world where the original graphic novels took place. But, he wanted to make sure that people understood where he was coming from with those statements.

"One of the things that drew me to the initial Watchmen was that clearly Alan [Moore] was moralizing about good and evil in the world," Lindelof said during a roundtable at New York Comic-Con. "If you take a character like Adrian Veidt [aka Ozymandias], there is moral ambiguity about the choices he makes."

He added, "Is Adrian Veidt the 'bad guy' because he murdered Edward Blake [The Comedian] and 3 million innocent people? Or is he the 'good guy' because he saved the world? That's the kind of moralizing I feel is more interesting in the realm of Watchmen versus something like The Avengers or Justice League where it's a little more black and white. The heroes and villains in Watchmen are hard to disambiguate because the villains see themselves as heroes. The decisions we make are much messier."

This isn't the only time Lindelof has found himself in hot water. Seminal comic book author Alan Moore was unhappy with HBO's decision to go ahead with Watchmen. Moore was also a bit miffed when Zack Snyder adapted the novels for theaters. But Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof drew the ire of fans for gesturing toward the creator's prickliness when reacting to Moore's distaste. He quickly backtracked and reiterated his respect for Moore and everything that came before him. This has been a tricky rollout for the show all the way around. The showrunner must be thankful that Todd Phillips decided to steal the spotlight with all of those comments about Joker a few weeks later.

Luckily for everyone involved the show debuts this month. Then, the art can speak for itself and fans can judge it for themselves. Watchmen is set to debut on HBO October 20th.

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