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For Sale Apr 9, 2026 at 10:58 PM

How did Watchmen get greenlit?

Posted by confusing_roundabout

I'm a huge fan of the Watchmen comics. I tried to watch the show back when it came out but at the time I was too much of a comics purist and couldn't look past the new characters so I didn't even finish the first episode. Now that I'm a bit older and more of a general TV/movie fan rather than specific media, I gave it another go and I'm loving it. It's such a great show expanding on the world of the comic and its consequences while telling a new story about race in America. But having said that, I think it works so well for me because I know the comic inside out and pick up on all the references, plot implications etc. Is this show at all comprehensible to anyone who hasn't read the comic? Does the squid attack confuse people? Does seeing Doctor Manhattan's origin recreated in play format by an isolated Adrian Veidt mean anything to people? It's bizarre because the show is so closely committed to being a sequel to the comic and expecting you to know the lore of it. Why does this exist? It would almost make more sense as a comic and not a TV show, and yet it does. I expected it to use the Dr Manhattan ending from the movie but it doesn't even do that. I think I just find it crazy because it's not often you get a sequel to a piece of media in a different medium that just expects you to be familiar with the original work. Normally you might get a straight forward adaptation followed by a sequel to that adaptation. Did they just assume that audiences knew the movie and could Google the squid and other differences?
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ScoobyMaroon Apr 9, 2026 +15
It gets greenlit because comic stuff was at it's absolute peak (End Game came out a few months prior) and Damon Lindelof had some clout and a good relationship with HBO.
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spawnthespy Apr 9, 2026 +8
I feel like the show is self contained enough to be taken as its own thing. I know people that had not read the comics or seen the movie and still liked it. I'll concur, having read/seen those before makes the show really, REALLY good.
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bindersfull-ofwomen Apr 9, 2026 +8
>Is this show at all comprehensible to anyone who hasn't read the comic? Does the squid attack confuse people? Does seeing Doctor Manhattan's origin recreated in play format by an isolated Adrian Veidt mean anything to people? I know people who watched it without any context and loved it. People just accept things at face value. If there is a giant squid, there is a giant squid.
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confusing_roundabout Apr 9, 2026 +2
That's fair haha. I guess for me, the bit that really made me wonder was when Laurie told the joke. The characters in the story are all the main players from Watchmen but that'd go over the heads of people who don't know the story. But at the same time I suppose that none of it is super relevant to the story being told in Oklahoma
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JoeChristma Apr 9, 2026 +23
This show is hella divisive. I personally loved it.
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Both-Perspective-331 Apr 9, 2026 +9
damon lindelof just went full send on this one and somehow hbo said yes, still wild to me that they let him make something this niche for mainstream tv
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confusing_roundabout Apr 9, 2026 +2
That's what gets me. If this was a comicbook it would be a huge event because almost everyone who reads comics knows Watchmen. But Watchmen is pretty niche for TV viewers and this show is so entrenched in the world of the comic. I'm really glad it exists as I'm loving it. Have you read Rorschach by Tom King? That's another good Watchmen followup but I think it requires you to know a decent bit of general comics knowledge for it to really work.
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MinuteLongFart Apr 9, 2026 +18
It’s not hella divisive. It’s received near universal praise from fans and critics
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GotMoFans Apr 9, 2026 +3
It’s well reviewed and only seems divisive to comic book and sci-fi media viewers that don’t like it when they don’t have straight white men as the main characters.
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Anklebender91 Apr 10, 2026
I haven't watched it since it came out but from what I recall there was something like 3 excellent episodes and the remainder of the season being a little bit below average. Also I remember thinking the finale was kind of a stinker.
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eldenpotato Apr 10, 2026
Me too. I would’ve loved a second season
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m_busuttil Apr 9, 2026 +5
HBO were originally developing it with Zack Snyder, possibly as a straight adaptation of the original book. (I assume Snyder would have produced rather than directed, it seems wild for him to make the same thing twice.) After Snyder left, they went to Lindelof - he was coming off the back of The Leftovers for them, had wanted to do something with Watchmen since he read it as a teenager, and had been offered it before but turned it down, but this time he said yes. I assume from HBO's perspective they figured they could sell it as "based on the graphic novel that you've heard of" and "from the guy who made The Leftovers", and any confusion about the setting would get smoothed over enough by that that they'd hook people in.
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Thwackey Apr 9, 2026 +4
I watched with my wife, who hadn't even heard of the comic, and she absolutely loved it. I don't think you need to have read the comic or seen the film for it to make sense.
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doonerthesooner Apr 9, 2026 +4
Louis Gosset junior mutha fuckers
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theriveryeti Apr 9, 2026 +8
I was a little skeptical as well but it’s in my top 25 for sure. A beautiful show.
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Mother_Ad_3561 Apr 9, 2026 +2
It was outstanding. I love the story adaptation in a similar way to how I’m loving fallout A fresh take on a familiar world
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Ok-Character-3779 Apr 9, 2026 +2
I never read the graphic novel, but I was aware of the basics because of the movie, which was a massive hit. There are also a *lot* of TV show recap/analysis websites out there, and most of them discussed the connections to and deviations from the original graphic novel at length. Most importantly, I think the show was designed to work as its own standalone story, which angered some fans but presented a fairly low barrier for entry. You *can* watch it as a direct sequel to the comic, but it's not a prerequisite to enjoying the show.
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GotMoFans Apr 9, 2026 +1
The movie was actually a disappointment gross-wise and probably lost the studios money.
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TheForeverUnbanned Apr 9, 2026 +2
I understood those things because the show explains them. I don’t need to have a full understanding of the lore up front, even if something is confusing at first if it makes sense by curtains down its copacetic with me, I loved the series. 
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thesupermikey Apr 9, 2026 +5
Damon Lindelof is good at making tv shows. Wb are cowards for canceling it.
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RAG319 Apr 9, 2026 +18
I don’t think they cancelled it. Pretty sure it was always supposed to be a limited series.
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LooseSeal88 Apr 9, 2026 +5
Correct. Lindelof never wanted a second season. He barely wanted the first. Lol
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JasonVoorhees95 Apr 9, 2026 +5
No one cancelled it lol, it was a limited series, Lindelof even compared it to the structure of a graphic novel
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mewithoutCthulhu Apr 9, 2026 +1
I’m a casual comics fan. I mostly read trades and am not interested in having to keep up with issues as they drop. Even with that, I don’t read a ton of them. I did read Watchmen back before the movie came out. I never followed any of the new Watchmen comics they put out. All of that to say that, yeah, even people unfamiliar with the source material could follow along and enjoy it. Comics fans got some of the small elements and easter eggs, but none of them impacted the overall story. My wife has never read any of the comics and she loved the show just as I did.
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Reddit-dit-dit-di-do Apr 9, 2026 +1
I was so f****** confused. After a couple episodes, I watched a YouTube video explaining the comics. Then I watched the Zack Snyder movie, which sucked. Then I continued the show and it made a lot more sense. I enjoyed it a lot!
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GotMoFans Apr 9, 2026 +1
The Zack Snyder tells the story as a faithful adaptation of the comic except making the heroes overpowered and changing the big event at the end.
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Reddit-dit-dit-di-do Apr 9, 2026 +2
Maybe. It kinda sucked tho. Most Snyder superhero films do imo. The sex scene while hallelujah playing was incredibly funny to me tho.
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confusing_roundabout Apr 9, 2026 +3
IMO the problem with the movie is that the comic is episodic. Each chapter is paced meticulously and has lots of side characters and small setups and payoffs The movie takes all the main plot beats but "trims the fat". The problem with doing that is you end up with a long slow movie that misses a lot of the smaller details and payoffs that make the pacing of the comic work.
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Reddit-dit-dit-di-do Apr 9, 2026 +3
Oh I 100% believe it. The comic seems far more interesting than the movie. Like I said, I watched a YouTube video breaking it down and I thought it was really interesting. That’s why the movie felt pretty disappointing. But yeah, the show was fantastic! Interesting themes and shot really well. I just think it’s one that you have to invest a bit of time outside of the show to learn about the source material to understand it. But it was entertaining even when I was confused lol
3
RAG319 Apr 9, 2026
Yeah it did suck.
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DoctorDrangle Apr 10, 2026
So you are talking about the watchmen miniseries or the more recent animated movies? Because the animated series is pretty legit. The miniseries was just a vehicle to tell whatever story those writers were trying to tell, they didn't give a f*** about the source material at all. It is Watchmen in name only. Now watchmen chapter 1 and 2 were great imo.
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