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SYFY WIRE Watchmen

Early reactions to Watchmen hail a 'smart,' 'audacious' follow-up to the iconic comic book

By Christian Long
Regina King Watchmen

In a couple of weeks, it seems like everyone will be watching the Watchmen. 

HBO's upcoming Watchmen series, which is very loosely based on the landmark comic series by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons, got an advanced screening today as part of its panel at NYCC, where it ended up blowing the hair back of just about everyone in the room. With a storyline set three decades after the events of the comic, showrunner Damon Lindelof seems to have blended his unique storytelling skills with the world where it's set.

While everyone was asked to be tight-lipped about any specifics, these completely spoiler-free reactions on Twitter are praising it as HBO's next Game of Thrones-level mega-hit. 

Given that the original comic was set in an alternate 1985, where Nixon still reigned as president and the U.S. had won the Vietnam War only to be brought closer to nuclear annihilation, there's a lot going on in the world of Watchmen. This continues in the new series, where Robert Redford has occupied the Oval Office and prevented the internet from becoming a "thing." One thing remains consistent, though, and that's society's general distrust (or outright hatred) of masked superheroes. 

While Moore has been consistently ... resistant to any adaptations of his work, Gibbons did join Lindelof and the cast onstage, saying he was intrigued by the idea of doing an extrapolation of the original work, rather than a straightforward sequel or prequel. 

You can see how this all plays out for yourself when Watchmen premieres Oct. 20 on HBO

In the meantime, click here for SYFY WIRE’s full coverage of New York Comic Con 2019, including up-to-the-minute news, exclusive interviews, and videos.