HBO’s ‘Watchmen’ TV Series Pilot Gets a Director

HBO’s small-screen adaptation of Watchmen is one step closer to becoming a reality, as the pilot episode just landed a director.

Nicole Kassell will reportedly direct Watchmen‘s pilot episode, according to Variety.

Kassell has become somewhat of an HBO veteran of the years, directing one episode of Vinyl and several episodes of The Leftovers (created by Watchmen executive producer Damon Lindelof). Outside of that, she has helmed the 2004 indie darling The Woodsman, as well as episodes of Claws, The Americans, Better Call Saul, and American Crime.

According to a report from last month, the Watchmen pilot episode will begin filming in March of this year, meaning that casting could be on the way. And as HBO president Casey Bloys revealed, the pilot will hopefully exceed fans’ expectations.

“I’ve read the script, it’s amazing,” Bloys said earlier this month. “I’m thrilled, I imagine we’ll shoot that this year.”

That level of hype has been echoed by Watchmen artist and co-creator Dave Gibbons, who explained back in July that he has high hopes for the series.

“Yeah, I mean, I think whenever Alan and I in the past had talked about movies and TV, in a way the TV form with an episodic story, which Watchmen very much was.” Gibbons revealed. “It was a graphic novel. It was a monthly story. I think that works very well.”

While Watchmen was previously adapted into a fan-favorite Zack Snyder-directed film, Lindelof also argues that the general concept will do better in today’s day and age.

“Watchmen — it was dangerous,” Lindelof said last month. “And you can’t be dangerous for dangerous’ sake, but the reason that I’m doing this is these are dangerous times and we need dangerous shows. What we think about superheroes is wrong. I love the Marvel movies and we saw Justice League this morning and I’m all for Wonder Woman and Batman and I grew up on these characters, but we should not trust people who put on masks and say that they are looking out for us. If you hide your face, you are up to no good.”

The Watchmen TV series does not currently have a release date.