Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have announced that they are composing the music for HBO's upcoming Watchmen series. The two members of Nine Inch Nails have been spending a lot of their time completing score work for various movies and documentaries over the years, starting with David Fincher's 2010 movie The Social Network, which earned the duo an Academy Award and Golden Globe. Reznor revealed that he and Ross were "happy and excited" to be a part of the new series.
Trent Reznor is at the point in his career where he only does things that he really wants to do, which should say something about Damon Lindelof's upcoming Watchmen series for HBO. The series is set in an alternate history where superheroes are the outlaws. The show is going to take elements from the graphic novel source material and expand it into something brand-new. Reznor had this to say about joining the project.
"We are very excited and proud to be working with Damon Lindelof & HBO on Watchmen. (This post has been edited down several times, omitting the parts where I gush with admiration for Damon, including a mandatory close friends must watch The Leftovers stance), and how impactful Watchmen has been on me... Oh yeah, and the part where I confess to reaching out to everyone involved with this series asking them to let us do the music. Trying to play it cool here but excited!"
The Watchmen HBO series stars Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, and Dylan Schombing. The show was created by Damon Lindelof, who is also set to write and executive produce. HBO announced back in August that the Watchmen had been given a series order with the first season set to premiere in September of 2019.
In addition to their work on the The Social Network, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have provided the score for Patriots Day, Gone Girl, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as well as the documentaries Before the Flood and The Vietnam War. Reznor and Ross recently released a series of Nine Inch Nails EPs that together form one album's-worth of material. The band is currently on a North American tour.
Trent Reznor has flirted with scoring throughout most of his career, starting with the video game Quake in 1996. However, the musician produced soundtracks for Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers in 1994 and David Lynch's Lost Highway in 1997. Reznor attempted to score 2001's One Hour Photo, but the music didn't end up fitting in with the film and was not used. It's pretty rare to see someone who is usually quite reserved like Reznor get really excited about working on a project. You can check out the Watchmen announcement below, thanks to Trent Reznor's Instagram page.