HBO’s Watchmen won big at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards and became the first comic-book adaptation to win the top award in its category.
What We Know:
- The HBO series earned 26 Emmy nominations and won 11 in total. Regina King won Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II won Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, and Cord Jefferson and Damon Lindelof won Best Writing in a Limited Series or Movie. The show also took home the top prize in their category by winning the award for Best Limited Series.
- HBO’s series is based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ 1986 graphic novel Watchmen, making it the first show adapted from a comic-book to win the “Best Series” award. Rather than do a straight page-for-page adaptation of the original, series creator Damon Lindelof continues the lore of Watchmen by having the story take place in the present day. The original takes place in the 80s, in a world where costumed heroes exist and the threat of nuclear war is imminent. HBO’s series continues the story but uses it to explore the American legacy of racial violence.
- In his acceptance speech, Lindelof dedicated the award to victims and survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, which the show depicted in its first episode. “The fires that destroyed Black Wall Street still burn today,” he said. “The only way to put them out is if we all fight them together.”
- Several other comic-book adaptations have received mainstream success and praise, such as The Dark Knight, Black Panther and The Walking Dead, but none have really been adequately recognized by the major award shows. Watchmen has finally broken that barrier with its win for Best Limited Series.
There have been murmurs of a possible second season for Watchmen, but Lindelof confirmed that he would not be part of it. Lindelof said he has no problem with HBO making a second season, but him working on it would be a “huge betrayal”. “This was my run on it, and I’ve invited any other artist to take up the baton . . . I’m so much more excited about seeing what someone else would do with it,” Lindelof said.
