Barack Obama Praises Watchmen and The Boys

At the end of 2019 former President Barack Obama heaped high praise on HBO’s Watchmen, calling it one of his favorite TV shows of the year, landing on a list of just three shows that he considered “as powerful as movies.” It’s been almost a year since that time and the 44th president is still beating the drum for Damon Lindelof’s quasi-sequel series. Speaking with EW in a new interview to promote his book A Promised Land, Obama was asked about the TV shows he puts on “when I need a break.” In his answer, he once again noted Watchmen but also gave a shout out to another superhero property.

“Better Call Saul, because of its great characters and examination of the dark side of the American dream,” the former president said. “The Good Place — it’s a wise and sweet combination of goofy comedy and big philosophical questions. And Watchmen and The Boys, for how they turn superhero conventions on their heads to lay bare issues of race, capitalism, and the distorting effects of corporate power and mass media. Oh, and the NBA playoffs — because it’s hoops!”

Luckily for Barry, The Boys is already prepping for another season and is set to begin production in the first part of 2021.

“Season three is going to be so f***ing crazy,” Series creator and showrunner Eric Kripke said previously. “Like even in the first episode, the first ten minutes of that episode there is a sequence that I will not give away that like literally every time we even talk about it I like cover my mouth, it’s so f***ing bananas. But we’re also still going to go deeper into characters and keep exploring and really put characters forward, but f**k man, there’s crazy s**t coming.”

On the other hand, Barack will be without a new season of Watchmen for the time being, at least from the creative team that brought the first batch of episodes to HBO.

“I am deeply, profoundly appreciative for how well received the season has been up until now, and I don’t want to feel like I’m ungrateful, but I still don’t have any inclination whatsoever to continue the story, and that is largely and almost exclusively based on the fact that I don’t have an idea,” Lindelof explained during a panel appearance. “If I’m going to be involved in any more Watchmen, I should be able to answer the questions, why, and why now, and the answers to those questions shouldn’t be, ‘Well because that’s what you do, because the first one was good.’ I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a second season of Watchmen, and I’m not even saying that that season shouldn’t feature some of the characters in this season of Watchmen. I just don’t know what it should be.”

Watchmen won big at this year’s Emmy Awards with the series bringing home 10 awards including Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Limited Series, and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for Regina King and Outstanding Supporting Actor for Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.