Alan Moore on HBO’s Watchmen show: “This is embarrassing to me”

From Watchmen to V for Vendetta, Alan Moore is the mastermind behind some of the most beloved graphic novels of all time. Even if you haven’t read his comics, you’re probably aware of the movie and TV adaptations of his work, most of which Moore has “disowned,” even when they’re big hits. Look no further than Damon Lindelof’s smash hit HBO series Watchmen (2019), which served as a sequel to Moore’s comic. The show won 26 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Limited Series. But from the outset, Moore never had any interest in getting involved in the show. Showrunner Damon Lindelof wasn’t ignorant of this, so when the show moved forward, he sent Moore a letter which read: “Dear Mr. Moore, I am one of the bastards currently destroying ‘Watchmen.’”

Speaking to GQ Magazine, Alan Moore weighed in on the strangely honest letter he received. “That wasn’t the best opener,” he said.

"It went on through a lot of, what seemed to me to be, neurotic rambling. “Can you at least tell us how to pronounce ‘Ozymandias?'” I got back with a very abrupt and probably hostile reply telling him that I’d thought that Warner Bros. were aware that they, nor any of their employees, shouldn’t contact me again for any reason."

Moore doesn’t feel that the numerous adaptations of his work honor the source material. “I explained that I had disowned the work in question,” he continued. “And partly that was because the film industry and the comics industry seemed to have created things that had nothing to do with my work, but which would be associated with it in the public mind. I said, ‘Look, this is embarrassing to me. I don’t want anything to do with you or your show. Please don’t bother me again.’”

Alan Moore chagrinned that the public associates him with HBO’s Watchmen

Moore’s steadfast stance on adaptations is almost admirable. He has never seen any movies or shows based on his work — watching them would be a “tortuous” experience — nor does he accept having his name attached to them. He has his opinion and he ardently sticks to it. He believes that HBO changing the story of Watchmen takes away from the message of his original work:

"When I saw the television industry awards that the ‘Watchmen’ television show had apparently won, I thought, ‘Oh, god, perhaps a large part of the public, this is what they think “Watchmen” was?’ They think that it was a dark, gritty, dystopian superhero franchise that was something to do with white supremacism. Did they not understand ‘Watchmen’? ‘Watchmen’ was nearly 40 years ago and was relatively simple in comparison with a lot of my later work. What are the chances that they broadly understood anything since? This tends to make me feel less than fond of those works. They mean a bit less in my heart."

I would love to listen to a podcast of Alan Moore moaning about the entertainment industry. I could listen to him moan about anything, really; he’s the most entertaining moaner out there.

Hailed by Neil Gaiman as “a wonderful collection, brilliant and often moving,” Alan Moore’s latest book, a collection of short stories called Illuminations, is now available.

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