The upcoming Watchmen television series has announced its premiere date, and we’ve got two observations. First, the show is premiering even sooner than we’d hoped. And secondly, the announcement was made in the coolest way possible.
Fans of the esteemed graphic novel know the symbolism of the Doomsday Clock. Its imagery features throughout the series, and the threat of an impending nuclear doomsday — eventually avoided by a manufactured alien attack — hangs over the story like the Sword of Damocles. So it’s only fitting that the Watchmen series premiere date would be revealed in the form of a ticking clock animation, courtesy of the show’s official Twitter account.
10/20. Tick Tock. #WatchmenHBO pic.twitter.com/RsEq8Fh3es
— Watchmen (@watchmen) September 3, 2019
In case you couldn’t tell from the tweet, Watchmen will premiere on HBO on Oct. 20. The new series from Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof isn’t going to be a straight adaptation of the graphic novel like the 2009 film was, however. Instead, the series will tell an entirely new story that’s set in the same world as the graphic novel — but 34 years later — and only sharing a handful of characters. So far, only the characters of Adrian Veidt, Dr. Manhattan, and Silk Spectre are confirmed for the series. The rest of the cast will be populated by new characters, including Robert Redford playing a fictionalized version of himself that is also President of the United States.
It will be interesting to see how this Watchmen story that isn’t actually Watchmen plays out, and now thanks to the early release date, we won’t have to wait long to find out.
