Posted in: HBO, Max, TV, YouTube | Tagged: damon lindelof, HBO, jean smart, max, Watchmen

Watchmen Star Jean Smart on Who Was First Offered Laurie Blake Role

HBO & Damon Lindelof's Watchmen star Jean Smart shared that this "Alien" star was offered the role of Laurie Blake before Smart was cast.

This December will mark five years since the season finale of HBO & Damon Lindelof's Emmy Award-winning Regina King-starring pseudo-sequel spinoff/remix of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons & colorist John Higgins' comic book classic Watchmen – we refuse to call it a "series finale" because we're still keeping a candle burning for more stories from the show's universe. As we wait, we like to keep an eye out for anything interesting that comes up regarding the Emmy Award winner – like when Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross discussed what it was like composing the score.

For this go-around, we're getting an interesting bit of casting trivia from Jean Smart, currently killing headlines as the lead in Max's Hacks. But it was her portrayal of an older, wiser & snarkier Laurie Blake – former Silk Spectre turned FBI agent and member of the Anti-Vigilante Task Force – that will always be at the top of her resume in our eyes. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter while accepting its Trailblazer Award during an event hosted by the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), Smart shared some thoughts on a number of her past series – and that's when she shared who was originally offered the role of Laurie Blake before her. "As for 'Watchmen,' Sigourney Weaver turned it down, which is why I got the role. Thank you, Sigourney. I had no idea what 'Watchmen' was! What a part." Smart explained.

A Look Back at Bleeding Cool's Watchmen Reviews

Bleeding Cool praised how powerful the Nicole Kassell (Castle Rock)-directed series premiere "It's Summer and We're Running Out of Ice" was, while "Martial Feats of Comanche Horsemanship" kept the momentum going by deepening the conspiracies at play. Jean Smart's Agent Laurie Blake took center stage in "She Was Killed by Space Junk", elevating the tension while serving as "devil's advocate."

"If You Don't Like My Story, Write Your Own" introduced us to Lady Trieu (Hong Chau), saw Angela (Regina King) look to Looking Glass (Tim Blake Nelson) for help when things started hitting too close to home and revealed how Adrian (Jeremy Irons) "trains" new servants as his escape attempts continued We learned Wade Tillman aka Looking Glass' "origin story" (and possibly his final days) in "Little Fear of Lightning", as Agent Blake places Angela under arrest but not before she goes "nostalgic."

Angela comes to understand her true past and the truth about "This Extraordinary Being" Will (Louis Gossett Jr.), a truth that starts with the formation of the Minutemen. "An Almost Religious Awe" brought with it the major reveal that Dr. Manhattan has been with us the entire time, and he's a major part of the Seventh Kalvary's plan. With the penultimate episode "A God Walks into Abar," we were offered a look back at the seeds of Angela and "Cal's" tragic (and apocalyptic) love story – the heart of our series. This brought us to the season/series finale "See How They Fly," where the machinations of the Seventh Kalvary, Sen. Keene, Lady Trieu, "Calhattan," Adrian, Angela, and Agent Laurie come to a head – as the world of Lindelof's Watchmen comes to an end… and to a beginning (review here).

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