HBO’s Watchmen Pilot Adds Jeremy Irons In Key Role

Yet more Hollywood star power has been added to HBO’s Watchmen pilot.

Amid news that the network has tapped the likes of Regina King, Don Johnson and Tim Blake Nelson, Deadline brings word today that Jeremy Irons of Justice League and Batman V Superman fame has been tapped for a lead role. No further details were disclosed at the time of writing – rumor has it he’ll play an “aging and imperious lord of a British manor” – but an actor of Irons’ caliber will certainly bring yet more potential to this landmark superhero series, one which currently has Damon Lindelof (Lost) in the driving seat.

It won’t be a direct adaptation of the 12-volume Watchmen series, mind you, but anyone familiar with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ iconic limited comic will know that the IP unfurls in an alternate history in which superheroes have been branded as outlaws. Deadline’s report also alludes to the fact that HBO’s Watchmen pilot will attempt to remix the nostalgia of Moore and Gibbons’ comic with genuinely original material that will break new ground for the genre. At least, that’s the plan.

For Irons, this is the actor’s first major TV project since his starring role in The Borgias, Neil Jordan’s short-lived period drama that bowed off the airwaves in 2013. Now, he’s ready to trade aristocratic drama for full-blown superhero action, and not for the first time.

Also starring Louis Gossett Jr., Adelaide Clemens and Andrew Howard, HBO’s Watchmen pilot is falling to place quite nicely. Still no word of a possible release window, but we know Nicole Kassell will be calling the shots from behind the megaphone once production begins.