HBO has released a full-length trailer for Damon Lindelof's Watchmen TV series in connection to San Diego Comic-Con 2019. The upcoming show is based in the same universe as the Watchmen comic books, but doesn't retell the events of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' original groundbreaking run on the property from 1986-87. Details beyond that have been hard to come by so far, other than the series takes place in the present-day version of Watchmen's alternate reality (where masked vigilantes are outlawed).
In a way, though, HBO has been just as mysterious with its marketing for Watchmen as the show itself. The teaser that dropped online back in May was full of enigmatic imagery (police officers wearing yellow face masks, members of what appears to be a cult that embraces the philosophy - and fashion sense - of the deceased vigilante Rorschach) and offered glimpses of the characters played by Regina King, Don Johnson, and Jeremy Irons, but little in the way of concrete details. If anything, though, the strategy has succeeded in piquing the interest of comic book fans eager to learn more.
Now, with SDCC 2019 fully underway, a brand-new three minute trailer for HBO's Watchmen has made its way online. You can check it out in the space below.
The SDCC trailer is a bit more forthcoming about Watchmen's plot and confirms that King's character, Angela Abraham, is a cop who turns to wearing a mask herself when the Rorschach cult begins attacking police officers. In addition, the preview footage includes glimpses of a newspaper headline claiming that Veidt - presumably, Adrian Veidt aka. Ozymandias - is dead and children dressed up in Dr. Manhattan masks. However, seeing as Irons is heavily rumored to be playing the older Veidt, there may be some subterfuge at play here. And speaking of the big, blue, super-powered being: the trailer reveals that Manhattan is still living on Mars after all these years, before he suddenly appears back on earth near the very end. As to the actor who plays him, well, that's a good question...
Overall, this an exciting trailer that suggest the Watchmen universe (a place where Richard Nixon was the U.S. president for several terms, as one particular shot here reminds everyone) will be just as messed up in Lindelof's show as it was in Moore and Gibbons' comics. Watchmen also seems like the perfect vehicle for Lindelof to continue delivering the same style of harrowing storytelling and exploration of themes about morality, religion, and science that he brought to his cult hit HBO series The Leftovers. Suffice it to say, this is one to (pardon the wording) watch out for later this year.
Watchmen will premiere on HBO in the fall.
Source: HBO