Louis Gossett Jr., who was one of the most prolific actors in Hollywood, passed away on March 29, 2024. The veteran actor was the first Black actor to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1982 for his role as drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the film An Officer and a Gentleman.
Though the star still has a few more releases on the horizon, including John Krasinski’s IF, one of the actor’s final TV appearances was the HBO show Watchmen. The series was lauded for reinventing the original comics and portraying the infamous Tulsa Massacre of 1921. Despite positive acclaim, the series was reclassified as a limited series, which reportedly hurt the veteran star.
Louis Gossett Jr. Questioned The Reason Why An Emmy-Winning Series Was Not Renewed
Legendary actor Louis Gossett Jr. witnessed many changing landscapes within Hollywood in his over seven-decade-long career. The actor was the first Black actor to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for An Officer and a Gentleman and has since had an extensive career with many roles in films, TV, and the stage. He was also the recipient of two Golden Globes.
One of his recent roles that drew acclaim was the HBO series Watchmen. Based on the comics by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the show’s creator Damon Lindelof reimagined the original, setting it as a sequel during the Tulsa Massacre of 1921. The show was critically acclaimed and went on to win eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, including for lead actors Regina King and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
Despite the positive response and awards, the show was not renewed for a second season and in 2020 was reclassified as a limited series (via Variety). While no reason has been yet given for the show’s reclassification, Louis Gossett Jr., who played the role of Will Reeves, had some questions regarding the lack of renewal. He spoke to Page Six,
“I don’t know what the real answer is but I have a sneaking suspicion that we’re blowing up here.”
The actor went on to say how he had a lot of frustration within him as a Black man but chose to express it on screen. The show was acclaimed for its depiction of the massacre and for bringing up conversations about white supremacy and racism in the USA. It was also lauded for its bold take on the original comic while still retaining Moore’s critique of fascism.
Why Was Watchmen Reclassified By HBO?
While the Emmy-Award-winning HBO show Watchmen was reclassified to be a limited series, it was first intended to be an ongoing series set to span multiple seasons. The first season of the series was set in Tulsa and was positioned as a sequel set 34 years after the original comics. However, by the end of season one, creator Damon Lindelof mentioned that he was done with the story and that he had crafted it to last only for one season.
In a statement to Variety during an interview, Lindelof mentioned that though he did not want to give an ultimate answer, he was not sure about returning for a second season. He said,
“Right now the space that HBO is in and that I’m in is we’re asking the question, Should there be another season of “Watchmen”? And if there should be another season, what would it be? I’m not saying I don’t want to do it, or it shouldn’t exist. I’m just saying, “Boy, every idea that I had went into this season of ‘Watchmen.’”
While the show was initially said to be an ongoing series, HBO reclassified the show in 2020 and labeled it as a limited series, mentioning that any subsequent seasons of the show would also be termed the same. Variety reported that the studio was considering an anthology format of FX’s Fargo or their own True Detective should there be multiple seasons of Watchmen.
