HBO’s Watchmen casts Jeremy Irons; early details on role

HBO’s upcoming version of Watchmen is one of the most-anticipated series of the next year or two, but it also is one of the more controversial. It’s not a strict re-telling of the classic Alan Moore creation — rather, it features characters inspired by it. It’s basically its own version of the original and it now has one of its leads in the legendary Jeremy Irons.

According to Deadline, Irons is set to play “an aging and imperious lord of a British manor” in the pilot for the new series, and that is the only information that is out there at present. Given both the prestige of the source material and also the involvement of Damon Lindelof in this particular project, it does appear as though this show will be one of HBO’s flagships once we get to the other side of Game of Thrones coming off the air.

Given that this series is still in the casting phase of things, it is really hard to imagine it coming on the air until 2020, at the earliest. That seems perfectly fine given how the premium cable series seems to be reasonably stacked when it comes to hits at the moment. They have a season 3 of Westworld that could come out late next year / early 2020, and beyond just that they have some other hits coming including the aforementioned Game of Thrones, Big Little Lies season 2, and also the third season of True Detective. There is also multiple different Game of Thrones spin-offs in development — one of them has officially reached the pilot stage, but we feel like that is probably not going to be out until even later than Watchmen, given that it has not even starting the casting process yet.

Given what Lindelof did with The Leftovers over the course of its final two seasons, we’re putting all the faith in the world that he can deliver with anything that he touches over at HBO.

What do you think about Jeremy Irons signing on to do the new version of Watchmen? Be sure to share in the comments!

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