Watchmen Writer Alan Moore Reportedly “Not Thrilled” With HBO Adaptation

If there’s one thing Alan Moore is known for, it’s for delivering comic book fans some of the most ambitious, brilliant, and boundary-pushing stories the medium has seen, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Swamp Thing. If there are two things he’s known for, it’s his work as a writer and his disdain for those stories being adapted into movies and TV series. In 2009, director Zack Snyder delivered audiences an adaptation of Watchmen, which disappointed both critically and financially. HBO has developed a Watchmen TV series, more inspired by the book than an adaptation of it, though Moore is still not a fan of his works being adapted into any medium.

At a Television Critics Association event at which The Wrap was in attendance, HBO programming president Casey Bloys was asked if Moore was still unhappy with this adaption, leading Bloys to admit, “I think that remains the case. That he’s not thrilled.”

Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons, on the other hand, is much more receptive to what this new series aims to accomplish.

“I do know a little about it,” Gibbons shared late last year. “I’ve had conversations with Damon, and I’ve read the screenplay for the pilot. I don’t think it’s my place to say too much about it, other than I found Damon’s approach to be really refreshing and exciting and unexpected. I don’t think it’s gonna be what people think it’s going to be. It certainly wasn’t what I imagined it to be. I think it’s extremely fresh. I’m really looking forward to seeing it on the screen.”

While one might think the creators take issue with their work being adapted into another medium, Gibbons noted that he wasn’t a fan of the comic book prequel and sequel series that have been developed, with the medium seemingly being irrelevant to his opinion.

“I’ve been resistant to the comic book prequels and sequels, but what Damon’s doing is not that at all, it’s very far away from that,” Gibbons admitted. “While it’s very reverential and true to the source material (by which I mean the Watchmen graphic novel that Alan and I did), it’s not retreading the same ground, it’s not a reinterpretation of it. It approaches it in a completely unexpected way.”

Given the book’s acclaim and the lackluster 2009 film, fans were obviously apprehensive about the endeavor, with Lindelof trying to quell fears early on in the series’ development.

“We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the twelve issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created thirty years ago,” Lindelof shared on social media in the series’ early stages. “Those issues are sacred ground and they will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted.”

Watchmen is set to premiere on HBO later this year.

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