HBO's WATCHMEN digs up Tulsa's dark, racist past

"What are you two talkin' about?”

“Oh nothin'...just the end of the world. Tick tock, tick tock.”

This past weekend saw HBO release the first full story trailer for their upcoming drama WATCHMEN which takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma and could potentially bring one of our state's darker pieces of history to the forefront of national conversation.

Last summer the city of Macon, Georgia was transformed into Tulsa when the series began filming, which raised several eyebrows, notably that the city was transformed into “Greenwood”, a Tulsa neighborhood that was regarded as “Black Wall Street” prior to the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, an event which took place from May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white people attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District.

It resulted in an estimated 100-300 deaths and has been called "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history."

HBO's WATCHMEN is being written by Damon Lindelof, architect of ABC's acclaimed drama LOST and HBO's own celebrated series THE LEFTOVERS.

The series is based on Alan Moore's iconic 1986 graphic novel “Watchmen” which thrust readers into a dystopian version of the 1980's where Richard Nixon was occupying his 4th term as President after the war in Vietnam was won, in a world where superheroes exist, and went from being celebrated heroes to wanted vigilantes. The novel follows Rorschach, a conspiracy theorist and former crusader, who tracks down and questions former members of the super hero team “Watchmen” after one of their own is murdered. The series was adapted into a film in 2009 directed by Zack Snyder, and is a must-see.

The series is taking place in an alternate contemporary reality in the United States, in which superheroes and masked vigilantes were outlawed due to their violent methods, but some of them gather around to start a revolution while others attempt to stop it.

HBO's WATCHMEN is set after the cataclysmic events of the novel/movie and is centered around Tulsa P.D. Officer Angela Abraham (Regina King) who sees her family murdered at the hands of a Doomsday cult modeled after the vigilante known as “Rorschach”. Deciding to take their nation back, this cult begins murdering police officers and their families, causing the Tulsa P.D. To adopt chilling yellow masks to hide their identities, thrusting the world as we know it back into a gritty Orwellian nightmare of masks and violence.

Upon having everything stripped from her, Abraham adopts a hood, mask, and thirst for blood as she takes to the streets becoming a vigilante. Behind the scenes though, a grand and insidious conspiracy is afoot, with none other than Adrian Veidt (Jeremy Irons)- once known as the superhero Ozymandias- seemingly pulling the strings.

“Watchmen” as a story, has always been rife with political and social parallels and it would appear the HBO series will be no different. The graphic novel and film dealt heavily with themes like rape, womanhood, the social acceptance of homosexuality, violence, the nature of mankind's depravity, forgiveness, Godliness, and so much more. Themes which are now more prevalent than ever.

Setting it in Tulsa, specifically Greenwood, and casting Regina King as a black female police officer gone rogue seems to be very intentional.

The series has an all-star cast including Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Adelaide Clemens, Tom Mison, and Jean Smart and will premier in August. Until then, you have plenty of time to read the graphic novel watch the film, and get comfortable with the grim and dark world of WATCHMEN.