The first look at HBO’s Watchmen series came in the form of its teaser poster. A simple image of Regina King‘s Sister Night in a blue haze in front of a yellow clock and the word “Watchmen.” It said it all, told us everything we needed to know: the things you know and love about Watchmen are here but we’re writing a new chapter with a new lead that makes it all different in the long run (it also arguably spoiled its final scene if you ask some). That image alone was what convinced series showrunner Damon Lindelof that the series was going to work, something he agonized over considerably.
“I was just like, I just want to see Regina King on a billboard with the word ‘Watchmen’ over her. Because that feels like it’s going to work,” Lindelof told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview. He also described the specific place he and the other writers had in mind for her character’s place in the scheme of comic books and superhero stories.
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“We wanted Angela’s sort of story arc over the course of these nine episodes to understand herself, to be able to put some context to understand the pain and potential anger that she felt not just as a result of her own personal journey through life, but what it meant to be a black woman in the United States of America. Whether it’s an alt-history or an actual history, it’s impossible to be a black woman in the United States of America and not experience a significant amount of trauma at the hands of the forces of white supremacy. There’s no avoiding it.”
He added, “Obviously, she hasn’t gained that entirely, but she’s definitely more aware of it through her sort of experience with Will then than she was at the beginning. We wanted to sort of dramatize that as much as possible. Also, I think that we can all admit as huge fans of comics that women and certainly people of color, and very specifically women people of color, have been underrepresented in this medium. I think that the idea of doing it again with sort of another kind of antihero white dude or even a heroic white dude was not as interesting and appealing and original feeling as doing it with a woman of color.”
In the end, Lindelof was right and King’s part in the series was one of the biggest highlights for viewers. King went on to win the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama for her part, no doubt the first of many wins for the actress in a part that further cemented her place as one of the best working actresses today.
Watchmen will be available on Blu-ray starting June 2nd, you can watch it all now on the newly launched HBO Max.
