A few weeks ago, Damon Lindelof -- the creator of HBO's Watchmen series -- discussed how the upcoming drama would "avoid moralizing" with its approach to political commentary, and let viewers draw their own interpretations from the show's tackling of real-life issues. These comments spawned a fair amount of backlash and discourse. As such, Lindelof how now clarified what exactly he meant, as well as explained why the show takes the route it does.
"One of the things that drew me to the initial Watchmen was that clearly Alan [Moore] was moralizing about good and evil in the world," Lindelof said in an interview with CBR at New York Comic Con. "If you take a character like Adrian Veidt [aka Ozymandias], there is moral ambiguity about the choices he makes."
Lindelof continued, "Is Adrian Veidt the 'bad guy' because he murdered Edward Blake [The Comedian] and 3 million innocent people? Or is he the 'good guy' because he saved the world? That's the kind of moralizing I feel is more interesting in the realm of Watchmen versus something like The Avengers or Justice League where it's a little more black and white. The heroes and villains in Watchmen are hard to disambiguate because the villains see themselves as heroes. The decisions we make are much messier."
Developed by Damon Lindelof, HBO's Watchmen stars Jeremy Irons, Regina King, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Tom Mison, James Wolk, Adelaide Clemens, Andrew Howard, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, Lily Rose Smith and Adelynn Spoon. The series premieres Oct. 20.