Damon Lindelof issues an update on the originality of his Watchmen project

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Damon Lindelof, known to many for his writing contributions to shows such as LOST and THE LEFTOVERS, has already stated that the WATCHMEN pilot he's currently working on for HBO will not be a direct adaptation of the original graphic novel. Rather than re-create the story that was already handily delivered to fans by Zack Synder back in 2009, Lindelof says that his WATCHMEN will feature an entirely new story for fans of the original to enjoy.

Today, Lindelof has published a sizable letter to his Instagram account, which addresses many of the concerns that people have had about his adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' prolific comic book series.

You can read the entire letter below, though here are some highlights from the letter that address WATCHMEN directly:

“We have no desire to ‘adapt’ the twelve issues Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons created thirty years ago,” Lindelof wrote. “Those issues are sacred ground and will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted.”

“They will however be remixed,” he continued. “Because the bass lines in those familiar tracks are just too good and we’d be fools not to sample them. Those original twelve issues are our Old Testament. When the New Testament came along it did not erase what came before it. Creation. The Garden of Eden. Abraham and Isaac. The Flood. It all happened. And so it will be with ‘Watchmen.’ The Comedian died. Dan and Laurie fell in love. Ozymandias saved the world and Dr. Manhattan left it just after blowing Rorschach to pieces in the bitter cold of Antarctica.”

Lindelof then goes on to talk about how his version of WATCHMEN will now be a sequel to the original, and that fans can expect him to do something fresh and inventive with the property.

“This story will be set in the world its creators painstakingly built…but in the tradition of the work that inspired it, this new story must be original,” he said. “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. The Old Testament was specific to the Eighties of Reagan and Thatcher and Gorbachev. Ours needs to resonate with the frequency of Trump and May and Putin and the horse that he rides around on, shirtless. And speaking of Horsemen, The End of the World is off the table…which means the heroes and villains–as if the two are distinguishable–are playing for different stakes entirely.”

“Some of the characters will be unknown,” Lindelof revealed. “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.”

Without a doubt, this is the most we've heard about this project so far, and it sounds as if fans looking to relive moments from Moore and Gibbons' work shall go wanting. To be fair, we already have a version of the original WATCHMEN story that is more than servicable. Okay, so there was no giant alien squid at the end, but still, it was pretty on-the-mark, all things considered.

WATCHMEN tells the story of when members of a misfit superhero group (Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, and Rorschach) uncover a conspiracy revolving around the death of their compatriot, The Comedian. The story spirals out from there, and becomes something far larger than any one of them was expecting, or prepared for.