Even if veteran actor Jeremy Irons were to never reprise his role as Alfred Pennyworth on the big screen, his days as being part of the DC family are far from over. Don’t forget, he was cast in a mysterious role for HBO’s live action Watchmen series a few months back.
Naturally, when some of Irons’ talent is enlisted, theories regarding the specifics of their involvement are bound to swirl. In fact, a description for his character led some to believe he’s playing an older version of Adrian Veidt AKA Ozymandias – and if you were of this school of thought, well, you were onto something.
As it turns out, /Film says they’ve learned that Irons has, in fact, been brought aboard to fill the role of Veidt, so that makes us wonder what’s the deal with newspaper headlines saying the character is dead. Odds are he faked his demise, or Irons has been tapped for flashback scenes.
Either way, it should be most intriguing to see how Damon Lindelof’s sequel to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic graphic novel plays out, especially with DC Comics currently publishing their own followup in the form of Doomsday Clock. And in that particular 12-issue series, Veidt also factors largely into the grand scheme, showing the guy has serious influence in various forms of media.
Also of note is Jean Smart joining the ensemble as FBI Agent Blake, thereby evoking the name of Edward Blake AKA the Comedian. Because of the peculiar surname, /Film rightfully theorizes if she’s actually Laurie Juspeczyk – or Silk Spectre II, as you may know her – since she’s the Comedian’s daughter. Truthfully, I could see this panning out, but only time will tell.
Watchmen is set to premiere sometime in 2019 on HBO.