Legendary actor Jeremy Irons joined HBO’s Watchmen TV series back in June, but his role was kept under wraps. Now, according to a report by SlashFilm, we’ve learned the veteran actor will play the older version of Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias!
The site also broke the news that veteran actress Jean Smart (Fargo) has also joined the cast of the show as a “mysterious FBI agent.”
Speculation must now begin in earnest as we try to uncover what all this means. Obviously, we know that the series will take place long after the events in the original Watchmen comic. Perhaps the series will structure itself around Irons’ character as he looks back on his life, or maybe he’ll appear in a flashback.
Smart’s character is the most intriguing. The writers at SlashFilm have pointed out that the name of her character, Agent Blake, hearkens back to the surname of the Comedian in the comic. Perhaps she’s a relative looking to enact bloody vengeance. Or maybe it’s just a fun homage to a past character.
Unfortunately, we’ve got to wait a while to find out as the series won’t hit the tube until sometime in 2019.
Set in an alternate history where “superheroes” are treated as outlaws, Watchmen embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel while attempting to break new ground of its own. Originally published as a 12-issue miniseries beginning in 1986, Watchmen quickly become one of sequential art’s most acclaimed stories. The original story centers on a murder-mystery before unfolding into a planet-altering conspiracy that ultimately asks where the fine line is drawn between heroes and villains.
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In a letter to fans, Damon Lindelof made it clear that the Watchmen series won’t be an adaptation of the comics, but an original story with new faces and unknown characters introduced into the universe that he intends to remix.
The pilot is already made up of an ensemble cast that includes Regina King (The Leftovers), Don Johnson (Django Unchained), Louis Gossett Jr. (Hap and Leonard), Tim Blake Nelson (Colossal), Adelaide Clemens (Rectify), Andrew Howard (Bates Motel), Frances Fisher (Masters of Sex), Jacob Ming-Trent (White Famous), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (The Handmaid’s Tale), Sara Vickers (The Crown), and Tom Mison (Sleepy Hollow).
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Since the 2009 film adaptation was released, DC Comics released an extensive “Before Watchmen” comic line, telling stories from the pasts of the central characters. More recently, DC Comics has made efforts to integrate Watchmen into the broader DC Multiverse with their Doomsday Clock series.
Lindelof serves as creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer on the Watchmen series, with Tom Spezialy, Stephen Williams, and Joseph Iberti also executive producing. Nicole Kassell will executive produce and direct the pilot. The series comes from Lindelof’s White Rabbit in association with Warner Bros. Television and is based on the DC Comics characters.
(Photo credit: Getty Images)
