Jeremy Irons to star in HBO’s Watchmen pilot.

Jeremy Irons has been cast as the lead in HBO’s Watchmen pilot, which is being steered by Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers, Prometheus). Irons joins Regina King, Don Johnson, Louis Gossett Jr, Adelaide Clemens, and Andrew Howard.

Irons again enters the world of DC comics, having played Alfred in both Batman v Superman and Justice League (and was gifted some of the best dialogue in both films). Coincidentally Zack Snyder, who adapted Watchmen to the big screen in 2009, was of course the director who brought Irons into DC’s extended universe.

Recently Lindelof attempted to dispel some of the concerns surrounding the adaptation of Alan Moore’s famous graphic novel in a letter he penned to fans that explained some of his intentions with the project. Rather than being a straight adaptation of the twelve-issue maxi-series printed back in 1986, the series will take place in a contemporary setting and will treat the events of Watchmen as chronological history to events unfolding in the present.

At the same time, Lindelof explains that some events will be “remixed,” and that the events of the comic will be treated as canon despite the fact that the show is not designed to act as a sequel. New characters will be introduced and he’s described the tone as “fresh and nasty and electric and absurd.”

DC Comics has been mining Moore’s iconic series for a number of years now. Some time back they launched the Before Watchmen event, in which a number of creative teams were tasked with creating prequel stories based on key characters from the story. Recently, the characters of Watchmen have been introduced into the mainstream DC universe in the Doomsday Clock event.

You can read Lindelof’s post on Instagram in full here.

Source: Variety