'Watchmen' Featurette: "The Truth Unwraps Itself Slowly"

How do you feel about heroes? That's the question showrunner Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) asks in Watchmen, his new HBO show that picks up decades after the events of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' seminal superhero comic series. But in a new featurette which showcases some brand new footage, Lindelof says potential audiences don't need to have read the original graphic novel to understand what's happening in this series. Check it out below.

Lindelof certainly isn't afraid to attack hot-button issues head on, and it looks like he's going to explore the concepts of heroes and identity through a lens which also looks at some major issues in modern America, like white nationalism and the state of policing. But he'll be able to explore those things at a slight remove from real life: Watchmen is set in an alternate history where the events of the comic happened, Robert Redford became the President of the United States, and the public doesn't have access to the internet.

One thing that I'm guessing some people may bristle at in this featurette, though, is when Lindelof admits, "I love twists in storytelling – surprises, unexpected turns." Lindelof was one of the key creative forces responsible for one of my favorite shows of all time (Lost), so I may be more willing to travel down this particular road with him than those who feel like they've been burned by him before, but I'm hopeful that his unique approach to Watchmen – a remixed sequel instead of a slavish adaptation – will bear creative fruit across its eight-episode first season.

Here's the official synopsis for the upcoming series:

Set in an alternate history where masked vigilantes are treated as outlaws, WATCHMEN, from executive producer Damon Lindelof (Emmy winner for "Lost"; HBO's "The Leftovers") embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name, while attempting to break new ground of its own.

Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, and James Wolk (who seems to be sporting a terrible accent) all star in the upcoming series, while Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who provided the pulsating, memorable score for David Fincher's The Social Network, are tackling the music.Watchmen premieres on HBO on October 20, 2019.