HBO is about to embark on a dangerous mission, bringing the beloved Watchmen franchise to television, and they’ve released three new teasers of the much-anticipated project. The first teaser features a pirate flag on a wooden pole, and includes the caption “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” That seems to suggest that the series will involve some reference to Tales from the Black Freighter, and from the comments, fans seem to be quite happy about that possibility.
The second teaser includes the caption “Reach out and touch Mars.” and features a blue globe with two large circular rings rotating around it. This seems to be a reference to Doctor Manhattan, the blue god-like being that will no doubt play a big part in the upcoming show. The third and final teaser features a new flag for America, referencing the flag we see in the original. That flag represented America’s 51 states since Vietnam was now part of the United States. That post features the caption “It’s not 1985 anymore.”
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You can check out all the teasers above and below.
The new Watchmen series will be written by Damon Lindelof, himself a huge fan of the original, but in a recent social media post, he revealed this won’t be a straight-up adaptation for several reasons.
“We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the twelve issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created thirty years ago,” Lindelof wrote. “Those issues are sacred ground and they will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted.”
“They will, however, be remixed,” Lindelof said. “Because the bass lines in those familiar tracks are just too good and we’d be fools not to sample them. Those original twelve issues are our Old Testament. When the New Testament came along it did not erase what came before it. Creation. The Garden of Eden. Abraham and Isaac. The Flood. It all happened. And so it will be with Watchmen. The Comedian died. Dan and Laurie fell in love. Ozymandias saved the world and Dr. Manhattan left it just after blowing Rorschach to pieces in the bitter cold of Antarctica.”
Lindelof said the original Watchmen is canon, but there will be brand new things and characters to discover here.
“Some of the characters will be unknown,” Lindelof said. “New faces. New masks to cover them. We also intend to revisit the past century of Costumed Adventuring through a surprising, yet familiar set of eyes…and it is here where we’ll be taking our greatest risk. Risk is imperative. I need the feeling in my stomach before I leap from a great height without knowing the depth of the water below. If my body should shatter upon impact, at least it was in pursuit of glory. And let’s be honest, Isn’t there a small part of you that wants to see me explored like a fleshy watermelon?”
Watchmen hits later this year.
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