After 7 1/2 Years, BBC America Greenlights Terry Pratchett's The Watch TV Series

 

The Terry Pratchett Discworld series are a favourite of mine, but I preferred the stories about Rincewind and Death and Granny Weatherwax.

But the Watch books are the most accessible for newcomers (a fantasy police force dealing with dragons, golems, politics etc), so I can see why they'd go with that.

I hope the adaptation is funny and enjoyable enough, as befits Pratchett's humorist icon status.

 

https://www.imdb.com/news/ni62612992

Game of Thrones star Richard Dormer is to lead the cast of BBC America’s The Watch, based on Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels.

Dormer stars as Sam Vimes, Captain of The Watch, disempowered by a broken society that’s reduced his department’s jurisdiction to almost nothing, in the eight-part series, which is co-produced by BBC Studios and Narrativia, the production company founded by Pratchett in 2012 and now run with Pratchett’s daughter Rhianna and his former business manager Rob Wilkins.

The cast also includes Also joining the cast are Adam Hugill (1917), Jo Eaton-Kent (Don’t Forget The Driver), Marama Corlette (Blood Drive), Lara Rossi (Crossing Lines) and Sam Adewunmi (The Last Tree).

 

Dormer really has a Vimes look in that headshot on IMDB. No mention of Nobby or Colon makes me a sad panda though.

 

I want this to be good, I really do, but so far I'm skeptical.

 

The casting for Vimes, Carrot and Cheery is pretty good but a skinny brunette Angua and a young, slim, black Sybill is just completely wrong! If they are adapting Night Watch as Carcer is the antagonist it could be decent (and Dormer would be in a eye patch *again*), but if they just start making plots up my hopes aren't high.

 

BBC's Discworld Cast Expands With Gender-Swapped Lord Vetinari & More
Casting News: BBC America’s ‘The Watch’ Enlists Anna Chancellor, James Fleet and More | BBC America


Anna Chancellor is Lord... Lady Havelock Vetinari.

James Fleet is Mustrum Ridcully, Archchancellor of the wizarding school Unseen University.

Ingrid Oliver is Dr Cruces, head of the Assassin's Guild.

Hakeem Kae-Kazim (Dynasty) will play Captain John Keel, former leader of The Watch and mentor to Sam Vimes.

Ruth Madeley is Throat, the world's best snitch.

Bianca Simone Mannie is Lupine Wonse, Sam Vimes' contemporary.

Anna Chancellor saying, “It’s been so exciting to join such a wonderfully creative team – from writer Simon Allen to the stunning production design and a truly talented group of actors – to help realize Terry Pratchett’s brilliantly anarchic yet strangely real and moving world. With the combining characteristics of Dracula and Elvis – Lord Vetinari has sprung to life in the most alarmingly joyful way.”


I'm not sure about the gender-swapped roles.

 

So after being in development hell for like a decade (I have checked every few years or so) this is finally happening? But why the weird genderswapping? Vetinari is kind of iconic and this is a weird choice. So will she be called the Matriarch instead of Patriarch, then? That said, I liked the actress on Pennyworth. If well written, it could work.
Still, if they wanted more female characters in the show, we have plenty of them in the books to choose from... just use them.
And WTF, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler will be a female too?
I guess they made the effort to at least stop at making Nobby Nobbs woman too. I don't think even feminists would have applauded that one...
Wonse will be... a female wizard? Pretty sure that was one of the reasons wizards and witches never got along well in the books until Equal Rites, which kind of revolves around this (the seventh son of a seventh son being a girl). But seeing as how Keel will be still around this likely takes place before the Watch became what it is now in the books.

 

Because the BBC has diversity quotas that they have to meet by 2020

 

Oh yeah and SPOILERS about John Keel, Vimes mentor...

Spoiler

John Keel IS Sam Vimes. In Night Watch, he was sent back in time alongside a serial killer who killed the real Keel, so Sam disguised himself and during the short rebellion, became a mentor to his younger self. So it is weird they would cast him as a black man... unless he just going to play the short lived real Keel.

I just read today what Terry Gilliam said about this, and I pretty much agree with him...
It's sad to think we live in a world where the Monty Python group would have never had gotten on TV if they formed today, being 6 white males. Nor I would assume would A Bit of Fry and Laurie exist...

 

Definitely. It's going to make it hard for them to do certain period pieces too. They wouldn't be able to make something like Band of Brothers anymore.

 

Would likely be "Band of Brothers, Sisters and Attack Helicopters" today.  

 

This might be my favorite post of the day.

 

And just like that, interest lost.

 

I'll still watch it - the "Matriarch" actress was great as Frances Gaunt on Pennyworth. I would just like to know who writes this. Is Pratchett's daughter involved, at least?

 

Some photos surfaced on IMDB and... maaan this is not gonna be my Discworld for sure. This looks like some weird Mad Max world mixed with Zeno Clash armor designs... The clothes look modern, Vimes has a jacket and a modern cop's badge? I assume the blonde girl is Cheery Littlebottom, in which case they totally missed the depiction of dwarves in the book (as in, that males and females are pretty much indistinguishable, both genders having beards and always wearing chain mail), and it was a big move when Cheery started wearing lipstick). And I have no idea who the nosering-wearing hipster dressed as Papageno is... God I hope that's not Carrot or Nobby. I assume the lady in green cloak is Lady Vetinari. Looks the part, at least. Not sure about the weird armored dudes with crossbows and who they are meant to be.
The Watch (2020-)

EDIT - WTF, I just noticed the bloody electric fan in the background of the first photo. Ankh-Morpork has electricity and modern day devices now???

 

The Discworld saga has been portrayed as evolving from a traditional dangerous fantasy land into a shaky but functioning alternate-Earth society where people can live with dwarves, trolls, golems and even vampires. It's a diverse but unique mix of humor and fantasy, like Zootopia meets Middle-Earth.

That said, this does look a bit dodgy to me. I didn't think the Watch would look so serious, Discworld is fantasy humor. I hope there's enough classic Pratchett humor for the characters.

The photos on IMDb have a cast listing.

The blond girl is actually Angua von Uberwald (Marama Corlett). She looks scruffy but pretty.

The nosering-wearing hipster (Jo-Eaton Kent) is actually Cheery Littlebottom, a female dwarf. A joke in the series is that dwarves both male and female look alike, so Cheery started the trend of "coming out" by wearing makeup and jewelry. Having a male actor play a female dwarf sounds okay, if rather risky.

Didn't expect a black dude to play Carcer Dunn, but then I got into the habit of thinking everyone in Ankh-Morpork was white. He has the crazy eyes for Carcer, I must say.

The actors playing Vimes and Sybill look on point, no worries there.

So as a first look, it looks decent.

 

No need to tell me that, I have read all the Discworld books... even the last few that were pretty bad IMHO. I know it is basically slowly turning the world into non-magical, technology-heavy Earth. Pratchett used the books very well to make fun of certain ancient organizations like banks or the post office by imagining them and how they would work within a fantasy world.

Wait that is Angua? But... she is tiny. I assumed she was Cheery because she is so short. In the books she is never described as short. Will she turn into a chiahua instead of a wolf?  
And that guy is Cheery? He seems neither short nor does he have a beard. If you read my post I just described the exact same thing about her being the first dwarf to display her feminity, so I dunno how well you even read what I wrote...

 

I wonder whether they were able to get dwarf actors. Probably not, so I don't think the size is a major issue.

As for the beard, he may have shaved it off.

 

After Game of Thrones? I doubt the demand has not not increased...
But they don't necessarily need to use them, just use camera tricks. Worked fine in LOTR and the Hobbit to make the dwarves look shorter.