The first image from HBO's Watchmen series has been revealed. The new series is based off of the graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The show is set to premiere next year, though no official date has been announced at this time. The source material is widely regarded as a classic that went on to influence many comics to come. The graphic novel is dark and unsettling and was later brought to the big screen by Zack Snyder, which was divisive, to say the least.

The first image from the Watchmen series features a mysterious figure with a yellow wrap around mask. The masked man is in a law enforcement uniform, but it isn't clear who we're looking at yet. While we don't know who the character is, the photo has a dark vibe to it that warrants more investigation, especially for fans who have been looking forward to this new HBO series. The caption reads: "Who watches the Watchmen?" Dave Gibbons calls the series, "exciting, entertaining, and absolutely worthwhile," which is a pretty awesome endorsement.

While Dave Gibbons has praised the idea behind the series, he admits that the comics were always intended to be a one-off. The Watchmen series takes place in an alternate history, using the same premise from the source material, but will feature some new characters. Gibbons continued to talk about the idea of the original comics at NYCC. He had this to say.

"The original is something that we always saw as standing alone and it never in our mind required prequels or sequels or homages or pastiches or anything like that. It isn't that we thought it should be treated with great reverence, it's just that we thought: If you've done something right just leave it alone."

Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof says that, "Some of the characters will be unknown. New faces. New masks to cover them." There's a lot of mystery surrounding the series, and some fans are more than a little skeptical of how the show will work. Watchmen 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.

For now, this image is the only official piece of promotion that we have of the Watchmen HBO series. With the new social media account, it seems logical that the show will continue to promote in cryptic ways with other characters down the line. It was recently announced that Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are scoring the project, which made the Nine Inch Nails front man really excited. Reznor could barely contain himself when making the announcement. So, there's a lot to look forward to in the coming months. Hopefully we see some more posts like this in the near future. In the meantime, you can meet the mysterious new character below, provided by the Watchmen Instagram account.