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All nine episodes of HBO’s conversation-defining Watchmen television series, a spiritual sequel to the influential Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons comic, will be available free this weekend.
HBO will make the series available for non-subscribers to stream on HBO.com, as well as through Free on Demand services, starting Friday June 19, through Sunday June 21. The company’s press release stated that the move was “an extension of the network’s content offering highlighting Black experiences, voices and storytellers. [...] HBO is proud to offer all nine episodes for free of this timely, poignant series that explores the legacy of systemic racism in America.”
June 19 is the date of Juneteenth, an unofficial American holiday commemorating the gradual emancipation of enslaved Black people in the American Civil War and its aftermath. The HBO and HBO Latino TV networks will also air a nine-hour marathon of the series beginning at 1pm EST on June 19.
Moore and Gibbons’ original comic series — an alternate American history conceived by two Brits — grappled with the themes of power and morality at the heart of the superhero idea, with a healthy helping of nuclear terror. HBO’s Watchmen, created by Damon Lindelof, picks up decades after the events of the comic series, picking up certain themes, discarding others, and interrogating the original story so completely and satisfyingly that a second season seemed an excess.
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