And hes pretty sure Alan Moore put a hex on him for doing it.
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Its January 2017, and Damon Lindelof is profoundly worried.
However, its also been a source of great controversy on two fronts.
For one, progressive critics have cast aspersions on its portrayal ofwomen,queer people, andpeople of color.
(Gibbons has been more cooperative, and you might read more about the counterarguments to Moores stancehere.)
They asked again; again, he turned them down.
I thought this was a bad idea.
Eight months later, it was announced that Lindelof was making aWatchmenseries.
Over the next year, we emailed occasionally about how the series was developing.
A Lindelof always pays his debts, was his response.
Hes also pretty sure that Moore, an avowed practitioner of magic, put a curse on him.
How are you feeling?How Im feeling, in general, is excitement.
Its very hard not to feel excited when Im driving around and I seeWatchmenbillboards withRegina [King].
Theres relief that its finally going to be out there.
But theres a lot of fear and trepidation about how its going to be processed.
Not just the usual Will people like it?
Obviously, Ive come to some degree of peace that not everybody is going to like it.
Its not going to be universally loved, especially because itsWatchmenandespecially because its about what its about.
Its more a fear of being misunderstood or wondering whether it should have been this.
Im alternately proud of it and second-guessing myself.
The rights toWatchmen, the book, were supposed to revert to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Is that something you think about?Thats something that I think about a lot.
Acknowledge that the creator has been exploited by a corporation?
Now that very same corporation is basically compensating me to continue this thing.
I ask, Is it even hypocrisy?
If I heard someone else was doing an HBO series calledWatchmenthat was not a strict adaptation of the book?
I felt that Id be really angry about it and then Id watch it.
Those are the people that I really admire.
The ones who are like, This shouldnt exist and Im literally not watching it.
Thats an admirable position.
Does it keep you up at night?
Im actually feeling the psychological effects of a curse, and Im okay with it.
Its fair that he has placed a curse on me.
There is some fundamental degree of hubris and narcissism in saying he even took the time to curse me.
But I became increasingly convinced that it had, in fact, happened.
So I was like, Well, at least Im completely and totally miserable the entire time.
And I did not enjoy any of this.
Thats the price that I paid.
Its like, Well, I didnt kill the animal.
The steaks already there.
So me not eating the steak doesnt save it.
I wanted to return to the source.
This thing that I read when I was 13 years old is what made me.
I tried to say No twice, but it kept coming back.
Twenty years from now, am I going to be regretting that I didnt doWatchmenbecause I was scared?
I wanted to do it.
You keep talking about being miserable; how miserable are we talking here?
And, obviously, were talking about white supremacy.
When you spend hours and hours talking about that stuff, it is supposed to be unpleasant.
I was never suicidal.
I was never fearful of my life.
I dont like using the worddepressedbecause I know people who are really depressed.
What I was saying to my collaborators on a fairly constant basis was, This was a huge mistake.
I never should have done this.
Why did I do this?
I cant quit, I have to see it through, but this was a huge mistake.
Doesnt that demoralize people?Yes.
How did this show get to the finish line, then?
Also, the first thing that we did was we wrote all ofJeremy [Irons]s material.
We went to Wales, and we shot everything, all the way through the finale, for him.
Hes not in episode six, but every other episode, you get thisBlack Freighteresque interlude.
We had to plot all that stuff out and shoot it right after.
So the Veidt stuff was super-duper fun because we did it first.
It gave us a road map.
The other part was the material that we were getting back from [shooting in] Atlanta.
Regina is really amazing.
This stuff is working.
As miserable as I was, Id watch dailies and Id be like, Thats pretty cool.
[Long pause.]
Im only thinking because words are very important.
The wordredemptionis not semantics.
Take your time.I dont think that the originalWatchmenrequires redemption on any level.
In any way, shape, or form.
I accept it in its totality as a staggering work of art.
I am not in a place where I can be critical ofWatchmen.
I am in a place where I canacknowledgecriticisms ofWatchmen.
Not to write her in a masculine way, but to give her that level of nihilism and cynicism.
Its not an idea about redeeming the original Laurie.
We would haveWatchmenbook club in the writers room.
Every two or three days, we would unpack an issue.
We would argue and debate on areas of ambiguity.
I think its just fascinating that these characters are so dimensionalized most of them.
You really care about them, but they dont fit into a very, very simple box.
I would actually argue thatSilk Spectre, her mom, is fairly dimensionalized.
I think, through a certain prism, that idea would require some redemption.
Heres how I feel about characters of color.
Heres how I feel about Rorschach.
I get to have those debates in the writers room.
Those other writers get to say, Well, heres how I feel about it.
I said, Thats not relevant.
I think that we are interpreting Rorschach.
The meta-ness ofWatchmenwas critical, I think, to its success.
Youre actually deconstructing the form.
That is meta at its most brilliant meta-ness.
To that degree, the show is about appropriation.
Were appropriating the originalWatchmen.
He actually doesnt accomplish anything.
He finds the Comedian costume in Blakes apartment and then he goes to warnDr.
Manhattanthat someone is coming after masks.
Then his investigative technique is to just walk into bars and break peoples fingers.
Then he insists on exposing it all to the one person who he knows is going to kill him.
His journal doesnt out Veidt because everything that he learns in Karnak was not in his journal.
So hes not the brightest bulb.
Hes got some very non-progressive views about the world.
Hes sad and hes tragic.
At the same time, I love Rorschach.
I loved him as a 13-year-old, and I still love him.
It just breaks my heart every time.
I have such empathy and compassion for this guy whos losing.
The world is sickening, and theres nothing that he can do to stop it.
Hes broken, so hes going to appeal to broken people.
But in reality, the much bigger problem is cops not caring enough about black people.
Was that something you thought about?
Was that something that worried you?Yes.
Im not even going to use the past tense.
What were really worried about, in my opinion, its not the television show.
What were really worried about is a reflection of the real world.
The paradox is: How do we feel about the police?
But how do you feel about authority?
How do you feel about the law?
Is the law just?
The answer to the question, How do you feel about the police?
Well, are you white?
Are you a man?
Are you a woman?
Are you a person of color?
What part of the country are you living in?
Those are all questions that you should be asking.
We understand that being a police officer is a dangerous job.
That isnt to say that all cops are racist is any more ridiculous than saying all cops arenotracist.
He also happens to be a man of color.
I dont buy that for a second.
I was like, Well, I think we should revisit this question after youve seen all nine episodes.
Im not going to hide behind the fact that this is an alternate world.
Im not telling anybody how to feel about the police.
Its a TV show.
At the end of these nine episodes, are you going to feel that the police are racist?
One of the great superhero questions.Why would you wear a mask?
Does the mask protect you or does it unleash your most dangerous and violent tendencies?
Those are the ideas that Im more interested in exploring.
People keep sayingWatchmenis about superheroes.
Other than Dr. Manhattan, theyre not.
None of them have powers.
Theyre vigilantes, at best.
So its like, What if the police start dressing up?
Its a provocative and interesting question.
When you get to the end of the season, its not resolved.
This is not a solvable problem.
But at least I could create a piece of television that had us talking about it.
The territory that worries me the most is what Ill call theJoker territory.
Was this irresponsible to do?
Now, if I put on this mask, people are going to think that Im a white supremacist.
I dont want to ruin Rorschach.
So Nixon wins in 88, he beats Redford, and then he dies in office in 90.
Redford gets to run again, against Gerald Ford, and he wins.
We had all these conversations about, Who was on the Supreme Court in 92 when Redford became president?
Who would have been on Nixons Supreme Court?
How many years would it have taken for Redford to get a Supreme Court that would go liberal?
Liberals get two things wildly wrong, in my opinion as an unabashed liberal.
One is we spend way too much time wagging our fingers.
The second is we dont know when to stop regulating.
Regulation is important, its necessary, but thats what the people on the right legitimately fear.
So, when does it stop?
What is it to be 30 years into a liberal regime?
That felt like low-hanging fruit that is too delicious not to not grab at.
Its going to be imperfect.
You need a two-party system so that achieve some level of balance.
It doesnt mean that Im not wildly progressive.
But if you said to me, How do you feel about a Senate that is divided 70-30?
Id say thatsno bueno.Thats not going to be representative of America.
How did you sell it to Redford?I didnt.
Really?I was really afraid that hed say, like dont do that.
One of them was Redford giving an excerpt from his State of the Union.
Now, Id like to also disrespect your wishes because its all about me.
Hes going to say, What the fuck are you talking about?
So we just did it.
You havent gotten any complaints?I hope that hes tickled by it.
Then getting a letter back that says, Leave me alone.
You got a letter back from Alan?Im paraphrasing.
I didnt get a letter back from Alan.
Its not really possible for me not to mention his name, like hes Voldemort.
But if you want to support Alan Moores wishes, do not watch the show.
Thats what he would want.
Were going to have Veidt and Laurie.
It wouldnt beWatchmenif Dr. Manhattan didnt make some kind of appearance.
But its just going to be those three.
They are in support of a new story.
This isnt their continuing adventures.
Dave is like, That sounds really cool.
So, you should read it whenever it strikes your fancy.
Look, I just love this book and I think its amazing.
I would agree that it is imperfect, but it has to be.
It has to be imperfect.
Its just a fascinating piece of art.
If you were Adrian Veidt at the end ofWatchmen, would you push the button?
Would you drop the squid?A hundred percent.
Its that easy for you?Absolutely.
I think that he could have accomplished the same goal with less of a death toll.
Maybe not New York; youd probably accomplish the same thing somewhere else.
But other than that, I find no fault with the plan.
I think its quite brilliant.
Spoken like a true storyteller whos playing with lives every day.
Thats how it works, right?Yeah, why stop at 3 million?
This interview has been edited and condensed.
*Update: This question was rephrased for clarity.
