Watching (And Writing) The Watchmen

Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Nicole Kassel know they're working with legendary material as they produce HBO's new TV adaptation of the comic series “Watchmen.”

They also know that Watchmen’s legendary creator, Alan Moore, will hate whatever they make.

“There is no version of ‘Watchmen' I could make that would please him,” Lindelof says.

The story follows retired superheroes living in a world in which the United States won the Vietnam War and is on the brink of a global conflict with the Soviet Union. A government-sponsored hero is killed and his former comrades suit up again to investigate his death.

The comic series originally ran in the 1980s. Moore was supposed to retain control of the story and has maintained that the story should always be consumed as a comic.

But that didn’t happen. Comics publishing giant DC kept the rights and spun the brand off into a movie, video game, a prequel series, motion comic and more.

But the HBO show is not a direct adaptation. Rather, it tells a new story set in the same world.

Three episodes in, the reviews have been positive.

How are Lindelof and Kassel dealing with the pressure of producing a sequel to a beloved work? How do they navigate the relationship between their sequel and their source material?

Produced by Avery J.C. Kleinman

GUESTS

Nicole Kassell, Director and executive producer, “Watchmen”

Damon Lindelof, Executive producer & writer, “Watchmen”, “The Leftovers” & “Lost”

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