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The Watch on BBC America: Queer Magic, Trailer and More

NYCC gave us our first real taste of the upcoming BBC America series The Watch, an adaptation of the Discworld novel by Sir Terry Pratchett. The story follows the City Watch, a group of ragtag cops tasked with protecting Ankh-Morpork. Moderated by Yvette Nicole Brown, the panel features Executive Producers Richard Stokes and Simon Allen, the latter of which also serves as showrunner.

They're joined by the stars of the series:

Wendell Pierce is the voice of Death, and he appears to have gone full "Daniel Day-Lewis" and showed up to the panel fully in character. Of all the iterations we've seen of Death, this is probably my favorite, and the voice is just perfect!

Richard Dormer (of Game of Thrones) plays Sam Vines, our de-facto main character and Captain of the City Watch, and he talked a bit about what it takes to get in the headspace of such a complicated character.

"The boots. I had a great pair of boots and I thought, It's all about the walk and a man who's downtrodden, nobody listens to him; he's desolate, an alcoholic."

In this world, we also have Lady Sybil Ramkin, the last of the city's nobility, played by Lara Rossi. Dormer described her character as "scarier than the gods themselves." If you've read the book, you know that's accurate.

Adam Hugill plays the adorable newbie Constable Carrot, and he's our window into the world as he arrives in the city and tries to navigate city life.

Our resident werewolf Angua is played by Marama Corlett, who talks about the duality of playing a werewolf and how mentoring Carrot sort of brings a positivity to the Watch and helps her character navigate the transition between human and beast.

Jo Eaton-Kent is Cheery and promises "a lot of queer magic" from the character and her story. For those not in the know, Cheery is from a society where everyone is born male, and gender doesn't really exist. She discovers her own identity and is ostracized from her family and people and now lives as herself in Ankh-Morpork and is the team's forensics expert.

There were clips throughout, and the panel culminated in a full trailer. The 8 episode season was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, and will grace the screens of BBC America January 3, 2021.

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