Yahya Abdul-Mateen II on becoming Doctor Manhattan

Aquaman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II had no idea he was going to be playing Doctor Manhattan when he first began filming scenes for HBO’s Watchmen show. In fact, it wasn’t until he’d filmed a couple of episodes that showrunner Damn Lindelof told him the big secret.

“I went into it knowing I was playing [Cal, Angela Abar’s husband],” Abdul-Mateen told Entertainment Weekly. “[Lindelof] did say it would be a good role and worthwhile, so I thought maybe Cal would go on some type of adventure, but I never imagined it turning into something like this.”

"Somewhere between the second and third episodes, I had another conversation with him where he wanted to talk to me more about Cal’s journey and I came to his office and sat down on the couch. I think his words were, “Cal is Dr. Manhattan.” We had a long conversation about what that meant. I remember being on the couch and keeping it cool. He was very relaxed and matter of fact and that’s how I was receiving the information on the outside. But on the inside I was tearing up the room, I was all over the place. I couldn’t believe that I was going to be the person embodying Dr. Manhattan. I said, “I guess I got to get in shape.”"

There was rather a lot of full-frontal nudity for Abdul-Mateen in the latest episode, so he was probably right on that score. The nudity also meant working with the show’s intimacy coordinator. “I always had a choice in how we would shoot the scene and what they would show,” he said. “They made sure I was comfortable and that I always had the choice, even at the last minute on the day. They definitely took care of me.”

Anyway, Abdul-Mateen was content playing Angela’s husband. He was pleased he was playing a patient character who was a good father, but he did want to get into the mix more. And then he read the script for “A God Walks Into A Bar.”

“It was wild. Just reading it and realizing how all these things are connected, there’s a lot of plot holes to be filled when episode 8 came together and started to connect things,” he said. “This is a story about history, about race relations in America and inherited trauma passed down from generation to generation. But at its core its a love story. It’s a really beautiful revelation to step into Dr. Manhattan’s shoes and play those three versions of him.”

Although you may not have realized it, Abdul-Mateen also voiced Doctor Manhattan before he took on the form of Cal. Before he became a big blue god, Dr. Manhattan was a white man named Jon Osterman. For the voice, Abdul-Mateen used a mix of “Steve Jobs, James Bundy (the Dean of the Yale School of Drama) and Damon Lindelof.” Abdul-Mateen had seen Zach Snyder’s Watchmen movie before taking on the knew, and he knew the cadence Billy Crudup used for Dr. Manhattan’s voice, but he didn’t watch the movie again because he didn’t want to use that voice.

However, once Doctor Manhattan took on the body of Cal, Abdul-Mateen II used his own voice. “Online I’ve been really surprised by how much people are moved by Dr. Manhattan living in the embodiment of a black man,” he said. “People have been really moved. I didn’t see that coming.”

"I was just playing the guy who happens to be the vessel but I’ve been noticing how important that is to people — to the see the possibility of a ‘god’ living in a black man. Especially in a world where the antagonists are a white supremacist organization. It’s really powerful imagery we’re putting forth and I’m proud to be part of that imagery of representation."

Transitioning from a mortal man to an emotionless godlike being meant Abdul-Mateen had to play the character differently. “There were times where [director Nicole Kassell] would say, ‘That’s too much, you got to pull back,'” he recalled. “I felt sorry for Regina sometimes because I wanted to say, ‘I’m sorry, I want to give you more as an actor, but I’m working inside this very specific container.’ It makes it hard to be in a relationship with Dr. Manhattan because sometimes you want to feel the fire — the emotion and passion in a relationship — which is why there was a need for Cal.”

At the end of the latest episode, the Seventh Kavalry zaps Dr. Manhattan to its secret base, where it plans to kill him and transfer his power to Senator Joe Keene. Does this mean Cal if doomed? “A recurring theme is “Nothing Ever Ends” and that gives us something to hope for the future of the character,” Abdul-Mateen said.

The Watchmen season finale airs this Sunday, only on HBO.

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