Watchmen is now easier to watch than ever, with the Blu-ray and DVD release coming soon after HBO Max's streaming debut. It's just as easy to note the similarities between the show's racially charged storyline and the current real-world political climate, but there are obviously plenty of differences as well, such as the existence of a glowing blue super-being. Another would be that Watchmen's United States has Hollywood legend Robert Redford as its president, a comic detail that the TV show honored. Unfortunately for star Regina King, however, Redford never actually appeared on screen.
As Watchmen's mostly fearless Sister Night, Regina King was a pillar of badassery that rarely lost her cool in the heat of a dangerous ordeal, even in the very end. But it sounds like the actress would have turned into a total fangirl had the series found a way to secure the quasi-retired Robert Redford as a guest star. Here's how she put it to Yahoo.
That was one of the first questions I asked, 'Is Robert Redford going to be in the show?' I totally sounded like a 12-year-old. I think they may have reached out to him. I don't know what the exchange was, but in my 12-year-old hopes and dreams, just in my mind that Robert Redford could be threatening an appearance was exciting.
To be sure, HBO's Watchmen was filled with plenty of surprises for TV viewers that both directly referenced Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' iconic comic book and also completely revamped the source material. Considering Damon Lindelof's take was a quasi-sequel set in the current day, it would have made sense for the show to avoid using Robert Redford, since his presence would have required many successive Presidential terms in order for him to remain the POTUS for Watchmen.
Luckily for Robert Redford, though, Watchmen already had a Beyond Term Limits agreement for Presidents built into the comic book, thanks to Richard Nixon's Vietnam War victory, combined with the Watergate scandal not being publicized. Strange as it may be to conceive, Watchmen's United States has (assumedly) only seen two Presidents take office in a 50-year span, with Nixon in office from 1969 through the late '80s, and Redford holding down the fort in the decades since.
Alas, the award-winning actor's fictional leadership wasn't destined to be experienced up close and personally by Regina King's Sister Night or any of the other Watchmen TV characters, with Robert Redford refraining from making an appearance in the HBO drama. Clearly that was an unfortunate turn of events for King, whose adolescent fantasies would have been realized had she been able to share a scene with him. Thankfully, Watchmen was a downright incredible series even without Redford's talents added in.
Had Robert Redford showed up within Watchmen, it wouldn't have been his first appearance in a major comic book property. The actor also portrayed the devious Marvel character Alexander Pierce in both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Endgame.
Those in need of some socially relevant superheroics can find Watchmen's nine Season 1 episodes streaming now on HBO Max, HBO Go and HBO Now, and anyone who needs a physical copy can find the Blu-ray and DVD versions on sale now, which are packed with various featurettes that will take fans deeper into the chaos.
