Sigourney Weaver turned down the role of Laurie Blake in Watchmen

In 2019, HBO debuted Watchmen, Damon Lindelof’s take on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ landmark superhero comic. Set decades later, the show caught us up with the likes of Ozymandius and Silk Spectre, who are older but still involved in the superhero game, in one way or another.

Silk Spectre, now going by her civilian name Laurie Blake, is an FBI agent specializing in costumed vigilantes, which are pretty common in this world. It was an excellent role played to the hilt by Jean Smart, who it ends up only got it because a more famous actor passed.

“I was sort of shot from guns because they hired me two days before I started,” Smart told Saturday Night Live cast member Bowen Yang during one of Variety’s actors-on-actors interviews. “I’ll be really honest: I had Sigourney Weaver to thank for turning down the role. So, thank you, Sigourney.”

I could completely see Weaver doing a terrific job with the role, but I loved how Smart brought out the bitterness and longing in Laurie’s character, so I think it worked out for the best.

Will Watchmen get a second season on HBO?

Fans have been wondering if HBO and Lindelof are going to make a second season of Watchmen for a while now, given that the first was so bold and different. Smart had never heard of the comic book but was on board from the jump. “I knew nothing about the graphic novel,” she said. “I knew nothing about the story at all. I started reading the pilot, and I said, ‘Oh, my God, this is amazing.’ I’d never really done that science-fiction genre.”

"The fact that [showrunner Damon Lindelof] was able to use that tragic part of our history that almost no one knew about — that was what was so shocking, that I had never heard of the Tulsa massacre. That’s why I think he said no when I asked him to do a second season because I think he put everything into that."

The show did indeed shed a light on the Tulsa Race Massacre, an tragic event in American history that was shockingly little-known. And she’s also right that it sounds like HBO and Lindelof have no plans for a follow-up season.

At least Smart is sticking around HBO. If you haven’t seen her work as comedian Deborah Vance in Hacks, you’re missing out, cause she’s great.

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h/t SyFy Wire