Star of HBO’s Watchmen Regina King hadn’t watched 2009 film or read the DC comics before taking on superhero role in the series
- Actress says showrunner Damon Lindelof told her to use her unfamiliarity with the source material by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons to her advantage
- The superhero series by HBO takes on many issues, with a focus on race and white supremacy
Who watches the Watchmen? Not Regina King. At least, not to begin with.
When the Academy Award-winning actress agreed to join HBO’s new Watchmen series, she had not seen the 2009 film of the same name directed by Zack Snyder. She also hadn’t read the 80s DC Comics tale by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, which is widely considered to be one of the greatest graphic novels of all time. Not that she didn’t like superheroes – she was an avid fan while growing up, especially of Spider-Man’s early-80s animated adventures.
Showrunner Damon Lindelof was planning to give the Watchmen story quite a twist – so he told King to use her unfamiliarity to her advantage. It’s a different approach compared with many actors who land superhero roles and are immediately handed a stack of comics.
“He didn’t want me to confuse how he saw this world,” said King, who worked with Lindelof on HBO’s mystery drama series The Leftovers. “He was right.”
“Because I did watch the film after [filming the pilot], and I would have been confused,” she added. “They stand on their own. They don’t even feel related to me in any way. Which I think is a great thing. I think that’s the beauty of Damon making the choice of using the [comics] as canon instead of trying to duplicate, from my understanding, something that was already great.”