This is a spoiler-free review of Season 1 of HBO’s Watchmen, which we named IGN’s best TV series of the year for 2019. For our spoiler-filled reactions, check out our Watchmen finale review and ending explained.
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark 1986-87 comic has seen numerous adaptations — much to the chagrin of Moore, who claims to have been swindled out of the rights by DC — from a 2009 Zack Snyder film, to a 2012 line of prequel comics, to the recently concluded Doomsday Clock, which sees the Watchmen characters interact with the likes of Batman and Superman. None came anywhere close to the original’s prowess, because none seemed to capture the lightning that was its in-your-face politics, told through a tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of the era’s superhero genre. None, that is, until HBO’s nine-part TV series from Lost and The Leftovers showrunner Damon Lindelof.