In the wake of Game of Thrones, we’re all looking for the next Game of Thrones. I don’t think there will ever be a television show as culturally dominant as GOT again, but we’ve got some contenders for your new weekly obsession. Succession is all family drama and backstabbing politics, and Watchmen has the genre appeal and, at least in the first episode, is built for “what happens next” speculation. Taking a look at the preview for upcoming episodes HBO released for Watchmen, we have plenty to speculate about. The two biggest questions after the first episode are what happened to Judd, and who is the boy from Tulsa in 1921?
In the preview teaser, the answer to both of those questions seems to be “Louis Gossett, Jr.”. As the old man in the wheelchair, he claims to have killed Judd, and I think we’re supposed to assume he grew from the boy in 1921. Those answers seem too easy. Jean Smart makes her first appearance next week, as an FBI agent investigating the killings in Tulsa. You don’t waste Jean Smart’s time on a plot as simple as “that guy claiming he did it actually did it”. There is going to be something twisty and unexpected here. (I am also excited to see James Wolk again, after his immortal straight-faced performance in the single most batsh-t insane television show of all time: Zoo.) The teaser also shows a holographic tree and the image of the boy from 1921, so that kid is going to be important somehow. Is he really Louis Gossett, Jr.? Or is he related to Angela somehow?
We also have to learn what Adrian Veidt is up to. Of course, episode one did not overtly confirm Jeremy Irons is playing Veidt, but he is definitely playing an older version of the OG Watchmen character. And he seems to still be up to his villainous ways, planning to save humanity through morally bankrupt plots. Can’t wait to see what fresh hell he’s cooked up. Based on Veidt’s history of dropping fake squids on cities to kill millions to encourage world peace, whatever that steampunk pod he’s got cannot possibly be good news for anyone.
I’m still not interested in trying to out-guess a TV show, but it is nice to have a new show about which to theorize. And since Watchmen is a sequel, knowing the graphic novel doesn’t really help. Adrian Veidt is the only OG character to make an appearance so far, besides Doctor Manhattan’s cameo on Mars. The show is about all new characters, so being a “book reader” isn’t much of an advantage. I’ve got no idea what the boy from 1921, Louis Gossett, Jr., Judd’s murder, and Adrian Veidt’s schemes have to do with each other—yet. My only theory right now is that nothing is as it seems. Episode two ought to give us some more context, the better to theorize where this sequel could be going. But hey, at least we know one thing for sure: nothing Watchmen can do could ever be as stupid as King Bran.
