Second attempt at a Watchmen TV series. Terry Gilliam attempted an adaptation in the early 90s but could only conceive the story being so epic that the time it would take could only be accomplished on television rather than film. Gilliam's vision went into pre-production with HBO & cast Robin Williams as Rorschach, Jamie Lee Curtis as Silk Spectre, Gary Busey as The Comedian, & Kevin Costner as Nite Owl. The project ultimately dissolved after HBO failed to provide a large enough budget for Gilliam's vision. Gilliam himself later claimed afterwards that an adaptation would've been "unfilmable" anyway.
The Tulsa Massacre of 1921 is a real historical event. The event was largely unnoticed until recent times.
The series is a continuation of the 1986 graphic novel instead of the Watchmen (2009) movie adaptation. Many story events and characters from the graphic novel that were changed or removed in the movie are mentioned or shown in the series. Most notable difference being the Squid Attack on New York, which was completely changed in the 2009 film.
The first series based on a comic book to win the Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series.
As a child, Will sees a silent movie called "Trust In The Law!" about the U.S. Marshall Bass Reeves directed by Oscar Micheaux; in various ways, this movie deeply influences the rest of Will's life. Though this specific movie is fictional, both Reeves and Micheaux are real-life historical figures. Bass Reeves (1838-1910) was the first Black deputy U.S. marshal in the American West, working mostly in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Upon his retirement from the marshal service, he became a police officer in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Oscar Micheaux (1884-1951) was a pioneer in the early film industry who made both silent and sound pictures about African American life.