HBO's Watchmen: 10 Big Questions We Need Answers To
5. Is It A Fully Alternate Timeline Or Will It Retread Certain Steps?
A few of the questions so far are tied up in this even bigger question. How exactly will the story be told? The fates of The Comedian and Rorschach rest on this question, and the answer to it probably fixes any confusion about Lindelof’s remixing claim.
You can’t really adapt something as culturally significant as Watchmen and expect to be able to change whatever you like. Various parts of Game Of Thrones have been shorn, minor characters have been merged together and plot strands have been added to get the best out of those who shone on the screen. But it’s still Game Of Thrones.
Even though Watchmen is much shorter than George R R Martin’s series (and it’s finished, to boot), there’ll likely still be some Lady Stoneheart-esque omissions. The question really is in what will be kept from the graphic novel, what will be changed and what will be added in anew.
We don’t even know yet what the timeline is for Watchmen. Ozymandias is much older, but we see Rorschach, and a young Doctor Manhattan has been cast. Lindelof is certainly no stranger to diverging timelines, and it appears we’ll see them again here.