Watchmen Star Thanks Sigourney Weaver for Turning Down Silk Spectre Role Days Before Production

HBO’s critically acclaimed adaptation of Watchmen delivered a number of surprises to audiences, with the cast and crew also seeing a number of unexpected events, with star Jean Smart confirming that she only joined the project days before production started, as Sigourney Weaver turned down the opportunity to play the role of Silk Spectre. Smart didn’t specify why Weaver “turned down” the part, but given how late into the process Smart joined the endeavor, it would seem likely that Weaver was even attached to the project for some length of time, as the project likely wouldn’t have moved forward without securing a performer in the integral role.

“I was sort of shot from guns because they hired me two days before I started,” Smart shared during a conversation for Variety. “I’ll be really honest: I had Sigourney Weaver to thank for turning down the role. So, thank you, Sigourney. I knew nothing about the graphic novel. I knew nothing about the story at all. I started reading the pilot, and I said, ‘Oh, my God, this is amazing.’ I’d never really done that science-fiction genre, and the fact that Damon [Lindelof] was able to use that tragic part of our history that almost no one knew about — that was what was so shocking, that I had never heard of the Tulsa massacre. That’s why I think he said no when I asked him to do a second season because I think he put everything into that.”

While Smart’s run in the sitcom Designing Women in the late ’80s would largely be considered her breakout opportunity, recent years have seen her star in FX’s Legion, as well as HBO’s Mare of Easttown and Hacks this year alone, earning her deserved acclaim. In this regard, Smart surely also has Weaver to thank for her latest projects, which are likely due at least in part to her impressive performance in HBO’s Watchmen.

As is the nature of any hit series, fans have wondered if Watchmen could get a sophomore season, only for most involved with the project casting doubt on such an event occurring.

“No change there. Never say never,” HBO’s Casey Bloys shared with Entertainment Weekly earlier this year. “But that adaptation was so from his brain it’s hard to imagine somebody else doing it. But there are no active conversations, or courting anybody, or putting it out there in the way that we’re doing, for example, with Game of Thrones.”

Stay tuned for details on the potential future of Watchmen.

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