Pre-production on Watchmen has been going on for weeks, according to an Instagram post by series executive producer and director Nicole Kassell, but it looks like shooting will finally begin in Atlanta on Monday, October 15th. Reports are that shooting will continue through to March 2019. No official announcement yet of how many episodes will be in the first season, although IMDb is listing 8. We also have no definitive air date for the series other than it being in 2019. HBO and Damon Lindelof are not making this easy.

There was also something cagey going on in the North of Wales from September 17 - October 5. HBO was reportedly shooting a new show at Penrhyn Castle in Gwynedd, Wales which many thought was the new Game of Thrones prequel. No photos were allowed anywhere near the sets, and the local residents were very obliging hosts giving up few details. However, when Watchmen star Jeremy Irons was spotted nearby having dinner, that got some people thinking maybe it wasn't Game of Thrones after all, and it was all but confirmed by this post with Tom and co-star Sara Vickers with the hair and make-up team. Since we know nothing for sure about what characters any of the cast are playing, fans can only speculate whether perhaps Tom's character is somehow related to Irons' character, who many think may be playing an older Ozymandias.

It might be harder to hide what they're doing when they are on location in Atlanta, but based on this level of secrecy, it's a good bet they're going to try.

The 2018 Summer TCA Press Tour began on Wednesday with HBO's presentation. According to Deadline, the network's president Casey Bloys said “I have very, very high hopes" about the Watchmen pilot. He went on to say “They did a great job. [Damon Lindelof] wrote a phenomenal script, and Nikki Kassell did an amazing job shooting the show. I think we see it in a few weeks.” He added that the prospects are looking good and if the pilot is ordered to series, they would want to move ahead with production as soon as possible.

HBO was acquired by AT&T with a mandate to compete with Netflix, so all eyes are on how the network is going to proceed. Brandon Katz noted in The Observer that they need some new high-quality, splashy projects, and that Watchmen "is the perfect big bet to launch HBO forward into the blockbuster content battle."

Prospects seem good, but the waiting continues until the end of summer, when the final decision will be made whether the series is picked up or not.