The second installment of the animated adaptation of Alan Moore‘s famous comic Watchmen is on the horizon. Fans expected to see the second half of the 1986 Cold War comic sometime in 2025, but it looks like Christmas has come early this year for Watchmen fans. Warner Bros. and Studio Mir have revealed the sooner-than-expected release date for Watchmen Chapter 2 and a trailer. The first animated part of the twelve-chapter comic adaptation Watchmen Chapter 1 was released in August of this year.
Watchmen Chapter 2 will be released on digital platforms on November 26. The new trailer posted on YouTube by IGN clears up some lingering questions fans have after enjoying the first half of the animated film series directed by animator Brandon Vietti. With original comic artist Dave Gibbons as co-writer, the first chapter closely followed the beginning of the comic series, adapting the comic nearly panel by panel and line by line. This left fans wondering how writers Gibbons and J. Michael Straczynski planned to fit the rest of the densely packed chapters into the second part without deviating from the detailed storytelling of the first chapter’s film.
The recently released trailer for Chapter 2 answers fans’ questions about the director’s and writers’ intentions. The trailer shows off scenes from the end of the comic story, letting fans know they can expect the catastrophic ending to be wrapped up in the upcoming film. Check out the trailer for Watchmen Chapter 2 below.
The Controversy Behind Watchmen Adaptations
The comic’s creator has a famous distaste for adaptations of his work and superhero movies in general, making every adaptation of Watchmen a controversial topic for creators and fans alike. While Moore doesn’t take joy in any adaptations of his influential comic, fans of his original story were also not satisfied with the liberties director Zack Snyder took when first adapting Watchmen in 2009. After the 2019 HBO series successfully separated itself from the original material while adding to existing characters’ stories, fans were left without an adaptation that showed Moore’s masterful story in all its gory glory.
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Snyder changed the ending completely, replacing the giant squid that falls on Manhattan to stop a worldwide nuclear war with, you guessed it, a nuke. Moore’s original ending has never been realized on screen, and many fans feel it is essential to the story. Some doubt that Watchmen Chapter 2 will show the comic’s gruesome ending, but with how faithful the first chapter was to the original story, there’s a strong chance fans will get to see an ending faithful to the source material.
Some fans noticed that the original writer’s name was left out of the credits of Watchmen Chapter 1. Since Moore has made his departure from comics entirely, the animated films leave out Moore’s name on purpose. The writer has asked that his name not be mentioned in association with the adaptations. Artist Gibbons respects Moore’s decision and left him out of the credits for his film adaptation of their comic. The love Gibbons has for their Cold War superhero story is evident in his careful translation of it into animation, which will continue on November 26.
Warner Bros.’s
Watchmen Chapter 2
is hitting digital platforms on November 26 and getting a physical release on December 3.