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In June last year it was reported that a new TV adaptation of the classic DC comic book Watchmen was being developed by HBO. There hasn’t been much news about the project since, but now writer and showrunner Damon Lindelof has given fans an update on the project.

Lindelof took to Instagram to post a lengthy essay about the Watchmen TV show. In the piece he speaks about his relationship with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s groundbreaking comic over the years, his intentions for the adaptation, and the fact that he knows some fans won’t be happy that he is making a new version of Watchmen in the first place.

Lindelof explains that he was introduced to Watchmen by his father when he was 12, and he makes it very clear how important it was to both his developing tastes as a writer and his relationship with his father. He then speaks about the numerous times he was offered the job of adapting the books over the past decade, which he declined based largely on the fact that Moore has repeatedly expressed his unhappiness about adaptations of his work.

The note reveals that although Lindelof did ultimately accept the job of leading the new TV version, he is not planning a direct adaptation. “Those issues are sacred ground and will not be retread nor recreated nor reproduced nor rebooted,” he said. “They will however be remixed. We are not making a ‘sequel’ either. This story will be set in the world its creators painstakingly built… but in the tradition of the work that inspired it, this new story must be original.

It has to vibrate with the seismic unpredictability of its own tectonic plates,” he continued. “It must ask new questions and explore the world through a fresh lens. Most importantly, it must be contemporary. The Old Testament was specific to the Eighties of Reagan and Thatcher and Gorbachev. Ours needs to resonate with the frequency of Trump and May and Putin and the horse that he rides around on, shirtless. And speaking of Horsemen, The End of the World is off the table… which means the heroes and villains–-as if the two are distinguishable–-are playing for different stakes entirely.”

Lindelof also stated that the show will have a diverse team of writers behind it. “In [our writers’] room, Hetero White Men like myself are in the minority,” he said. “And as Watchmen is (incorrectly) assumed to be solely our domain, understanding its potential through the perspectives of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community has been as eye-opening as it has been exhilarating. We’ve committed to doing the same in front of and behind the camera. And every single person involved with this show absolutely adores Watchmen.”

Lindelof’s acclaimed drama The Leftovers was also screened on HBO, and concluded its third and final season last year. His other writing credits include the movies Prometheus and Star Trek Into Darkness, and he was the co-creator and joint-showrunner of Lost.

Watchmen was first published by DC in 1986 as a 12-part limited series. It was written by Moore and illustrated by Gibbons and is widely considered to be one of the greatest comic books ever released. It helped usher in a new, more mature approach to mainstream superhero comics, and in 2005, it was featured on Time’s list of the 100 greatest novels of the 20th century.

A film version was in the works for many years before Zack Snyder’s version hit screens in 2009, and 12 Monkeys director Terry Gilliam was attached at one stage. Snyder’s movie was a modest success, making $185 million at the worldwide box office.

E3 promises to bring news on lots of big games, and Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. for Switch is unquestionably one of the show’s most anticipated titles. Nintendo has already said the fighting game will be the focus of its overall showing this year, so you can expect a lot of news and reveals during the event. In this feature we’re rounding up important details about the game like what we know about it so far, what’s confirmed for E3, and what we hope to see from the game at the show. Here we go!

What We Know So Far

During a Nintendo Direct in March, Nintendo officially announced a new Super Smash Bros. game for Nintendo Switch. Revealed by way of a really cool teaser trailer, the game is due to launch on Switch in 2018, though a specific date hasn’t been revealed yet. The announcement video showed Inklings from the Splatoon series (who will apparently make their Smash debut with the new game), along with expected characters like Mario and Link.

The video also showed the silhouettes of characters like Samus, Donkey Kong, and Bowser, along with many others. The game, like all other Switch games, will be playable on your home TV or on the go via the tablet screen, allowing you to “settle it in Smash” wherever you are.

The last Smash Bros. game was released in 2014 for Nintendo Wii U and 3DS. It was a massive commercial success, selling more than 14 million units between both editions, while critics generally enjoyed the mascot fighting game as well.

What’s Confirmed For E3

The new Super Smash Bros. for Switch is definitely going to show up during Nintendo E3 2018 pre-recorded briefing on June 12. And after that, you can expect Nintendo to share even more details about the fighting game during the Nintendo Treehouse livestream event. Presumably developers will stop by to show off the game and discuss it at length.

If you’re attending E3 2018 yourself, you can play Smash Bros. in Nintendo’s booth on the show floor (here’s how to reserve a spot to avoid the lines). Additionally, there will be a Super Smash Bros. tournament held near the Los Angeles Convention Center, so we’ll get to see pro-level play for the very first time.

What We Hope To See At E3

Given that we know almost nothing about the new Super Smash Bros. for Switch outside of the fact that it exists, E3 is poised to be a huge show for the game. We hope to see lots of gameplay and character reveals (here are our own predictions), along with details about whether or not it is a port of the Wii U edition as some are speculating that it may be. One possibility is that Nintendo goes the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe route and takes the Wii U Smash game but also packages in more characters, arenas, and other features. If Nintendo goes down this path, the Smash community’s legions of dedicated fans will want to see lots of extra content and special features packed in to make the upgrade worthwhile. Nintendo could also wow fans and confirm the new Smash is a brand-new title built from the ground up for Nintendo Switch. We’ll have to wait find out for sure.

If the new Smash launches after September (which it probably will), it may be one of the titles that requires a Nintendo Switch Online membership, and hopefully Nintendo clarifies how that all works regarding what content/features are behind a pay-gate and what’s not. Given Nintendo’s increased focus on DLC these days, Nintendo could also surprise and excite fans by announcing extra-content plans for the game, whether that comes in the form of extra characters or stages, or things like cosmetics. That being said, fans will be looking for any potential DLC announcements to stay on the player-friendly side and not wade into the microtransaction/pay-to-win category.

Another exciting thing to think about for the new Smash is guest characters. Nintendo’s existing partnership with Microsoft for Minecraft cross-play, it would also be really cool to see a Microsoft character come to Smash Bros. for the first time. Even Phil Spencer is up for bringing Banjo and Kazooie to Smash, so we hope to see it happen.

Smash is a big-time competitive game, so we also hope to learn more about Nintendo’s ambitions to help the game appeal to fighting game fans. Super Smash Bros. Melee for GameCube remains the gold standard for some in the fighting game community, and it will be interesting to see what tricks Nintendo has up its sleeve to push the new Smash as an eSport title.

Further Reading:

When GLOW returns to Netflix for Season 2, it will bring with it many surprises as the ragtag group of female wrestlers works to make their TV dreams a reality. Along the way, they’ll run into some interesting faces–including one that should be very familiar to longtime WWE fans.

Chavo Guerrero Jr., a former WWE Tag Team, WWE Cruiserweight, and ECW Champion, will appear in the second season, though it’s far from his first exposure to the series. After serving as a fight coordinator and wrestling trainer to the cast in Season 1–a role he reprises this year–Guerrero is also getting the chance to mix it up in the ring with some of GLOW‘s cast on-camera in Season 2.

“Chavo is on the show this year, and he wrestles with some of the women,” star Alison Brie says in a group interview. “So that was very exciting to witness.” She continues, “He stayed in character the whole time, super weird. We were like, ‘Chavo, are we going to stretch before the match?’ And he was like, ‘F**k you, I’ll see you in the ring.'”

If he’s getting in the ring to wrestle women, it sounds like Guerrero will be modeled after Andy Kaufman’s intergender wrestling gimmick from the 1970s. It’s an act similar to what independent wrestler Joey Ryan does today.

For the cast, it was a special moment. After being shown the literal ropes by Guerrero, he was stepping into their domain–acting. “It’s so exciting to watch someone we love shine,” Jackie Tohn, who plays Melrose, explains. “In the same way, I love watching these girls. It’s like, wait a sec, we can now get to watch Chavo, who by the way has basically raised us. Now he gets his moment to not be behind the scenes, it’s really nice.”

With Guerrero stepping into the show as a male wrestler that fights women, Brittany Young (Carmen “Machu Picchu” Wade) relished the opportunity to tangle with her trainer. “Well I know in my scene with him, without giving too much away, I literally was talking trash to him as Carmen, but deep down inside I was like, ‘This is Britney vs. Chavo,’ and after every take, he’d be like, ‘Yes, do that one more time, because I’ve got a great comeback now,'” she remembers. “So, just like throwing things at him and seeing him react, for us it’s a family, and to see uncle Chavo get into the show, we were all ecstatic.”

Of course, with Guerrero going full-’80s wrestler, he had to have the ring attire to match, and GLOW made sure he left an impression with his wrestling trunks. “They’re like little speedos-shaped [shorts] and there’s this embroidered monkey right on the ass cheek. What a delight,” Tohn jokes.

You’ll be able to get a full look at Chavo when Season 2 of GLOW premieres Friday, June 29, on Netflix.

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