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Watchmen, HBO’s reinvention of the classic Alan Moore graphic novel, remains one of the most talked about shows half a year after its final episode aired. Between the revolutionary look at how race and institutions intersect and the nearly prescient depiction of modern tensions, Damon Lindelof’s series has quickly been elevated to masterpiece status.
But the vision was not his alone, and aside from being aided by co-writers, the series was lovingly crafted by fellow Executive Producers and directors alike. Among them, Stephen Williams helmed the seminal 6th episode, “This Extraordinary Being,” which took Angela (Regina King) on a tour through her grandfather Will’s memories. Williams spoke with Screen Rant about the themes that went into that particular episode, as well as the importance of the series at large.
Watchmen was the most probably surreal experience of my life, because I almost felt like I was living in the TV show in a way that deeply affected me. I know that you’re an EP and a director on the series. How do you decide who directs which episodes?
Stephen Williams: We decide who ends up directing which episodes in a very collaborative atmosphere. It’s a fairly complicated formula, to be honest – insofar as there is a formula. It has to do with director availability, how far along the scripts are, actor availability, locations… There are a number of factors that are taken into consideration when those decisions are made.
That’s how that all comes about.
I want to talk specifically about your episode, because I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. What was behind the decision to go black and white, beyond the aesthetics of noir? What other symbolism can be found in the retro look?
Stephen Williams: That’s a really good question. The decision to go black and white for Episode Six, “This Extraordinary Being,” was partly intuitive; it felt right. Beyond that, to put some meat on those bones, it felt like black and white was probably the best choice to evoke that time period in which that portion of the story was taking place. Which is to say, the late 1930s. And to separate it from present day events, and also from the slightly colorized memory pops that intruded their way into what are essentially the curated memories of Will Reeves. He’s the character whose memories have become embodied in the drug Nostalgia, which Angela Abar.
So, all of those elements combined seemed to recommend black and white as the appropriate aesthetic choice.
There’s a lot of risk involved in this episode, as it was such a stark departure from the rest of the season stylistically. Were you nervous about the episode standing apart from the season?
Stephen Williams: Yeah, it was a strange combination of things. Again, a very perceptive question. It would not be entirely transparent of me to say that I was not somewhat trepidatious about deploying that specific visual grammar to tell the story. But at the same time, from the minute that Damon told me about this episode, and we started talking about what it was going to be about – even before it had been fully scripted – I visualized it in more or less the way that it appears. It just felt like the right way to tell this specific story.
Obviously, there are so many risks involved in that. The episode consists largely of long, unbroken takes. In some cases, they include action; in some cases, they include complicated visual effects. And the notion of long takes means that you have to get everything right within the context of each individual take; there’s no safety net. You are painfully aware of how risky that all is; it’s either going to work or it’s going to be a disaster.
And yet, at the same time, I felt compelled to execute the episode that way. It just felt like that was the way in which that particular story wanted to be told.
Genre storytelling seems to be one of the most effective ways to address social justice without seeming preachy. What’s the key to that balance?
Stephen Williams: I agree with you. I think that genre is a particularly useful and effective vehicle in conveying other ideas, whether they be character-based or theme-based, and I think that’s in part due to the fact that genre is by and large a structure or a form that is already familiar to viewers and audiences. There’s a certain kind of welcome mat laid out for them, or there’s a kind of familiarity and comfort level that allows you to gain entry to the story.
Once the story is underway, genre then allows you to attach bigger ideas and address bigger themes and put characters in collision with each other – all held together by the narrative glue that genre affords. Ultimately, it becomes an exercise in trying to do something that is uniquely familiar; familiar yet still unique.
It’s rare that a project’s timing lines up so perfectly that its messaging and themes can be seen outside of a certain window. Last year, before the world was different, what kind of pushback did you receive to the material and the show’s hard takes? How does it feel to be vindicated for a project to be seen almost as clairvoyant?
Stephen Williams: Let’s remind ourselves, by the way, that the genesis for this particular iteration of Watchmen started with Damon Lindelof reading an article published in The Atlantic written by Ta-Nehisi Coates called The Case for Reparations. So, these ideas have been present for a very long time. I don’t know that anybody involved with the project would lay any claim to particular clairvoyance.
The impetus behind telling the story was just about addressing this central facet of the American story; the way in which race and the attendant notion of white supremacy have been so central to the American historical arc. it was really an attempt to find a way to utilize the framework of the Watchmen graphic novel to address those ideas and those themes and those social forces in a way that was entertaining and truthful and respectful of that history. We were just talking about things that have been present in all our lives for a very long time, almost since the very inception of this country.
“This Extraordinary Being” tackles a historical context of institutional and overt racism with cop violence and the KKK this episode. It really is when the show’s fantastical alternate timeline and our own really intersect, and the show’s mission becomes clear. How exciting was it to share this episode with the world?
Stephen Williams: It was a profound experience. I will say that this episode was always conceived as being the episode in which all of those related aspects, or facets of this story we were trying to tell, were going to come together in a way that was embedded in the characters that were living that story.
Obviously, Will Reeves was a child during the Tulsa 1921 massacre, and was profoundly affected by the trauma of that. Ultimately, it led to him becoming the first costumed hero or costumed adventurer – and certainly the first black costumed adventure. He set out to redress the injustices that he had been witness to as a child and continues to experience even as he becomes a police officer in New York many years later.
He passes that legacy down to Angela Abar, his granddaughter. And so, in many ways, that episode is crystallizing all of those things: institutionalized racism, the way in which the police force often functions as an emissary or a bulwark of institutional racism and attendant white supremacy, all of which were in very stark and graphic evidence during the 1921 massacre in Tulsa.
The episode, in many ways, represents the convergence of those things, and that’s why it appears almost in the middle of the run of nine episodes. It’s both backward-looking, towards the events that are depicted in the pilot, and forward-looking, meaning towards the events that ultimately find a resolution in in the finale.
When the first season ended, Damon Lindelof said he was done and it made sense. However, there’s been so much social change in the past six months and heightened political awareness. Do you think a second season is more important and possible now?
Stephen Williams: My own personal point of view on that is that the story that we set out to tell with those nine episodes, we told as best we could and as honestly as we could. Having said that, and I believe that Damon has gone on record saying this: if someone else were to pick up the mantle of Watchmen and do their own iteration, that’s something that I think the source material – meaning the original graphic novel that Alan Moore created in the 80s – is rich enough to invite that additional exploration.
There’s an opportunity for someone else, another team, to tell their version of Watchmen; their iteration of Watchmen. But we are content with the story that we told, and that’s the leg of the race that we ran.
If you could steer the second season, would you continue to tell Angela’s story or would you make it an anthology and follow new characters?
Stephen Williams: The only honest answer to that is I really have been so consumed with our season that I truthfully have not given any thought to what that potential iteration or next chapter in the life of Watchmen could be or would be or should be. But I’m certainly open to someone else doing it.
Speaking of this season, there were some characters from the graphic novel who were only mentioned, like Nite Owl. Did you work out his backstory completely, or did you touch on him being in jail more?
Stephen Williams: Yeah, in terms of the original characters from Watchmen, we chose the ones that we felt were necessary to execute our iteration; our remix, as Damon refers to it. That’s why characters like Laurie Blake appear in our version, because she was necessary for the unraveling of our story. The others, we either didn’t have time, space or dramatic need for.
Switching gears for a second, how do you feel about Marvel Studios’ new effort to have more diversity in Phase 4 – with filmmakers in Shang-Chi, Black Widow, and all the Disney+ shows? Do you think it’s a different calculation to address social justice for Marvel, since they have to stay in the PG-13, family-friendly territory?
Stephen Williams: I’m not a studio exec, or an executive of any kind. But I will say that any effort towards greater inclusivity, greater diversity, and greater representation – whether it pertains to race, gender, sexual orientation, or measured across any other vector of fairness and justice – is not only meet and right, but will be part of producing a cultural canon that is reflective of the world that we live in, and is consequently interesting and essential.
You were previously prepping to shoot a pilot for a new series called Harlem’s Kitchen. What can you tell me about the project, and is it still in the works?
Stephen Williams: Harlem’s Kitchen is still in the works. We were literally shut down on our last day of pre-production in New York City, because of COVID-19 and their desire to keep everybody involved safe and have the opportunity to return to their families. Harlem’s Kitchen is based on a script written by Zahir McGhee; it’s about a black restauranteur and his family.
That character will be played by Delroy Lindo, and we’re super excited to have him. He’s had a long and distinguished career, but his work in Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is off the chain. We could not be more excited to have him, and we are hoping to resume production once we can ensure the safety of our cast and crew.
As a person of color, Watchmen impacted me in a completely different way for the superhero stories I usually enjoy. I just wanted to thank you personally for all the work you did on the show.
Stephen Williams: Well, thank you so much. It’s sincerely much appreciated. And please know that it was as profound an experience for us making it as it appears to have been for you watching it. We just tried to be as truthful and as honest as we possibly could in the depictions of the characters in the story. I know that for none of us involved was it just a job. It was something we felt compelled to do, and committed to in every way.
It was one of those rare experiences where the cast and crew were completely united in that energy and that effort and that intention. We just kept our heads down and tried to do the work as best we possibly could. So, it’s immensely gratifying to hear from someone like yourself that appears to have been affected in the way that you have been acting in the way that you have. It means a lot.