WIRE Buzz: HBO's Watchmen teases Dr. Manhattan; Big Mouth recruits Thandie Newton; more

This edition of WIRE Buzz involves Kanye West partnering with Will Smith's son, Jaden for a sci-fi anthology series.  As if that wasn't enough, we have exciting updates for HBO's re-imagining of Watchmen and Season 3 of Netflix's Big Mouth.

In some new .gifs released on Instagram today, HBO seemed to be teasing both Dr. Manhattan and Tales of the Black Freighter for Damon Lindelof's upcoming live-action Watchmen series.

The first post shows a yellow skull and crossbones on a pirate flag flapping in the wind with the ominous caption of: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." There's no way this isn't a reference to the Black Freighter, a dark comic that runs in chunks throughout the original graphic novel, mirroring the plot in certain ways. This part of the story didn't make it into the theatrical cut of Zack Snyder's film adaptation in 2009, but was included into the "Ultimate Cut" home release as animated snippets narrated by Gerard Butler.

The second post shows some sort of blue gyroscopic model of two blue rings swirling around a blue ball. Just like we said above, there's no way this isn't an overt reference to Dr. Manhattan, the only hero in the original who had actual superpowers. The caption of "Reach out and touch Mars," gives credence to this theory because Manhattan exiled himself to the Red Planet for a period of time after being framed by Ozymandius. By the end of the story, he left Earth to create life somewhere else in the cosmos, but it looks like he'll be making a comeback.

Now, the third teaser confirms that this version of Watchmen won't be set in 1985 like the graphic novel and film adaptation, but in the present day. That's underscored by the presence of modern-looking cars parked in the background and the caption: "It's not 1985 anymore." That being said, the American flag waving in the foreground promises that we're still in an alternate timeline; the inclusion of 51 stars is a reference to how Dr. Manhattan helped America win the Vietnam War, which led to Vietnam becoming the 51st state in the U.S.

Check out the three new teasers below:

Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Louis Gossett Jr., Adelaide Clemens, and Andrew Howard all star in the new show.

There's no premiere date yet, but Watchmen is expected to debut later this year.

Netflix's Big Mouth has had no shortage of A-list talent voicing its animated characters and that trend will certainly continue for Season 3.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the adult comedy has attracted Martin Short (BoJack Horseman), Thandie Newton (Westworld), and Ali Wong (Birds of Prey) for the third season.

Credit: Netflix

Created by Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, and Jennifer Flackett Big Mouth centers on a group of middle schoolers coming to grips with their blossoming adolescence and sexuality.

Kroll leads an already impressive voice cast of John Mulaney, Jenny Slate, Jordan Peele, Fred Armisen, Maya Rudolph, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Richard Kind, Kristen Bell, David Thewlis, Bobby Cannavale, Rosa Salazar, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Scheer, Zachary Quinto, Craig Robinson, Kristen Wiig, Nasim Pedrad, Alia Shawkat, and more.

Kanye West's surrealist tweets are making the jump to live-action in an upcoming anthology series about perception from the rapper entitled Omniverse. Slated to air on Showtime, Omniverse will star and be executive produced by Jaden Smith.

Written by Lee Sung Jin (Undone), the show's first season will focus on the topic of Ego, featuring Smith as an alternate reality version of Kanye West. Stop, you had us at "alternate reality version of Kanye West."

(via Deadline)