A black Dr. Manhattan

Published December 9, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Greetings Gentlemen,

First, love your shows. I do miss Big D on the Watchmen podcast, but am enjoying it none the less. (Westworld, GOT, A.Gods).

I had a thought while watching this episode (which was superb btw) that I wanted to run by you about the casting of a black actor to play the role of Dr. Manhattan. I think this was intentionally done to challenge the Watchmen purists who might question such a move. I happen to love it and I hope it did make some viewers think about the history of white actors trying to portray non-whites, even going back as far as the menstrel shows of the 1800s. I think this lines up with historical racial analysis Lindelof has been communicating throughout the season and the included scene where Angela seems to intentionally avoid trying to show her preference for Dr. M to take the form of someone she would be most comfortable with…a black man. I would love to know if you have seen many complaints from the internet about this casting move…I hope I’m overanalyzing it and that we are at a place in society where it didn’t bother anyone…but I love the social commentary of the Watchmen and the same with your podcast. (Although I did cringe a couple weeks back when King B said that the good guys were the ones with badges….. because that is not always the case).

Brian from Greensboro, NC

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