Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen was such a seminal work that no one believed that it could ever be adapted to another medium. Naturally Zack Snyder proved that it could be done (though some might argue that point) with the 2009 movie, and now Damon Lindelof has been given the green light for an HBO TV pilot, with the order including additional scripts.
Lindelof himself leaked the news via an Instagram image of a Watchmen statue on the desk of the writers room. A day later, HBO confirmed the news.
The Snyder film, like the comic book mini-series that inspired it, was initially viewed as a one off with a beginning, middle and an end. No sequels, no prequels. The story had been told. Apparently not. DC Comics launched a number of mini-series (totaling 37 issues) in 2012 under the umbrella title Before Watchmen, which focused on the title's individual characters. And now there's the potential new series from Lindelof, who had produced The Leftovers for the cable network.
Virtually nothing is known about this version, though to work as a TV series that would run multiple seasons, one would imagine that it will have to expand on events from the comic. Collider.com had previously reported that Snyder was meeting with HBO regarding a possible series, but those talks fell through. Apparently the Lindelof version will have nothing to do with that.
It could be worse, of course. At least they didn't turn Watchmen into a Saturday morning cartoon...or did they?