HBO's 'Watchmen' casts Regina King, Don Johnson, and four others
HBO's TV adaptation of Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons' 'Watchmen' seems to be gathering steam. Damon Lindelof, who previously co-created 'Lost' and also co-wrote science fiction films 'Cowboys & Aliens,' 'Prometheus,' 'Star Trek Into Darkness,' and 'Tomorrowland', will be serving as the showrunner, and now, the cast has been announced as well.
According to Variety, Regina King, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr, Adelaide Clemens, and Andrew Howard will all appear in the series, with King taking on the mantle of the leading role. However, the exact nature of their roles has been kept closely under wraps.
Each of the aforementioned cast members boasts a significant amount of experience. King has appeared in HBO's drama series 'The Leftovers,' which was also created by Damon Lindelof in collaboration with Tom Perotta, and for which she received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination.
King also won two Emmys for her starring role in ABC's anthology 'American Crime' and has appeared in films such as 'Poetic Justice' and 'Legally Blond.'
Johnson has similarly won a Golden Globe for his work in 'Miami Vice' and made appearances in films 'Django Unchained' and 'Machete.' Each of Nelson, Gossett, Clemens, and Howard also boasts of decades of experience and will no doubt be stellar additions to the project.
The 'Watchmen' series of comic books are considered by many DC fans to be one of the best in existence and was most recently adapted into a fully-fledged feature film in 2009 by Zack Snyder. Lindelof himself also bears a close personal connection to the comics, taking to his Instagram to share a wordy letter about what the project meant to him.
Lindelof wrote that the 12 issues created by Moore and Gibbons were 'sacred' and that he had no desire to recreate, reboot, or even reproduce the storyline.
Instead, he said that they would be remixed, writing: "This new story must be original. It has to vibrate with the seismic unpredictability of its own tectonic plates. It must ask new questions and explore the world through a fresh lens. Most importantly, it must be contemporary."
In that vein, the characters will be reworked. He said: "Some of the characters will be unknown. 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 we will be taking our greatest risks."
Snyder's 'Watchmen' was a commercial success and received critical acclaim in both the comics, as well as the mainstream press. Lindelof will be hoping that when his series hits screens, it receives a similar reception.