7 Years Later, HBO's Watchmen Finally Has A Sequel

7 Years Later, HBO's Watchmen Finally Has A Spiritual Successor Published Sep 1, 2026, 9:24 PM EDT Felipe Rangel is a Movie and TV Journalist ScreenRant. He has been writing about movies and TV since 2021. Felipe joined ScreenRant in 2022, working across different teams, covering everything from breaking news to features to reviews and more. Felipe is a writer who is an avid film and TV fan, with superhero movies and series being his biggest passion. He graduated from college in 2019, having studied Journalism. Before college, he spent a month studying at the Oxford English Centre. His superhero knowledge expands to the comics, with his undergraduate thesis being "Politics Reflected In American Comics." Sign in to your ScreenRant account Watchmen is one of the best DC shows ever, and HBO has come up with its perfect spiritual successor, taking seven years to find the ideal project. When it comes to live-action superhero shows, DC knows exactly what is up. Tom Welling's Smallville ran for ten seasons, creating one of the most memorable versions of Superman. Then, a shared universe came to be. DC's shared universe on TV, the Arrowverse, thrived even when the franchise's theatrical counterpart, the old DCEU movie franchise, failed to excite. In recent years, DC has found a lot of success among HBO's library of shows and on streaming, on HBO Max. That includes projects like The Penguin, Peacemaker, and more. However, few superhero shows have come close to Watchmen. Watchmen debuted on HBO on October 20, 2019, releasing nine episodes and becoming one of HBO's best limited series. It holds a near-perfect critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes at 96% based on 398 reviews. The superhero series had a daunting task ahead of it, which was continuing the story of one the most beloved comic books of all time. It achieved that, as HBO's Watchmen proved itself an engrossing drama that packed quite the emotional punch. It taught many viewers about the 1921 Tulsa massacre, and explored with incredible complexity and a mature tone what makes society, and superheroes, function. Now, Lanterns, HBO's latest DC series, comes as its perfect spiritual successor. Why Lanterns Is Watchmen's Perfect Spiritual Successor There are a few major ways in which Lanterns serves as Watchmen's spiritual successor, as they share a lot of similar elements. For starters, DC's live-action Green Lantern series was co-created by Damon Lindelof, who was the creative mind behind HBO's Watchmen. Instead of being action-packed superhero releases, both HBO shows are dramas in the first place, and superhero series second. They ground their fantastical elements in hard-hitting emotion and investigations with major ramifications. The DC shows are also both TV-MA, allowing them to explore more complex themes with a sharper edge and building an intense atmosphere. Additionally, racism works as a prevalent theme in both of them. Watchmen explored that problem with an immaculate lesson in American history, while Lanterns explained that the reason why John Stewart's father lost the Green Lantern ring to Hal Jordan was that, due to being a black man in the United States, he could not simply tell the ring that he was not afraid when questioned. The new DC series explores the concept of privilege, showcasing how the test the Guardians of the Universe deem to be impartial is not really that when put against real-world connotations. Lanterns Surpasses Watchmen In 1 Key Metric (But There Is A Twist) Photograph by John Johnson/HBO Besides being thematically similar to Watchmen and boasting the same dark, grounded, and mature tone of that hit HBO series, Lanterns also serves as Watchmen's spiritual successor due to how it has been met with incredible reception. Those themes are landing well with critics and viewers thus far. With only three episodes of the Green Lantern series released at the time of writing, Lanterns stands tall at a near-perfect 92% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes, just a little under Watchmen's. That said, the 2026 TV show holds a much better audience score at 81% against Watchmen's 57%. That disconnect is in large part due to Watchmen's stance on discussing racial issues right from episode 1, which led to the show being review bombed. A lot of the negative reviews touch on elements like virtue signaling or it being too political for a superhero series. At the end of the day, Watchmen is a true masterpiece, sitting among the best TV shows of all time, not just superhero series, and Lanterns has now emerged on HBO as the perfect project to carry its torch, so the fact that it is universally beloved is a heartwarming twist. Lanterns Release Date August 16, 2026 Network HBO A modern Green Lantern update, Lanterns sees intergalactic law enforcers John Stewart and Hal Jordan unite, defending Earth while they investigate a murder mystery set in the American heartland. Cast Aaron Pierre, Kyle Chandler, Nathan Fillion, Kelly Macdonald, Jason Ritter, Garret Dillahunt, Nicole Ari Parker, Ulrich Thomsen, Poorna Jagannathan, Sherman Augustus Main Genre Sci-Fi Creator(s) Tom King, Chris Mundy, Damon Lindelof Seasons 1 Watchmen Release Date 2019 - 2019-00-00 Network HBO A television adaptation and continuation of Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons' landmark postmodern superhero comic series, set in its alternate America where masked hero vigilantes are outlawed. Cast Regina King, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Irons, Jean Smart, Tom Mison, Sara Vickers, Tim Blake Nelson, Don Johnson, Andrew Howard, Louis Gossett Jr., David Andrews, Junie Hoang, Lee Tergesen, Wayne Pére, Dennis Nguyen, Faye Yvette McQueen, Marissa Chanel Hampton, Mahdi Cocci, Steven G. Norfleet, Teresa Jade Wilson, Adelynn Spoon, Dajour Ashwood, Tiger Dawn, Ryan Hope Travis, Tim Peek, Denise Hillis, Jennii Vo Le, Philly Plowden, Phillip Trieu, Trey Butler Main Genre Drama Creator(s) Damon Lindelof Seasons 1