The One Thing Alan Moore Actually Wanted That HBO’s V for Vendetta Must Nail

So, HBO is cooking up a V for Vendetta series. Cool idea. But if they actually do it, there is one thing they absolutely can’t whiff: this time, it needs to feel like the uncompromising book Alan Moore wrote, not the cleaner, cuddlier version the 2006 movie drifted into.

What HBO is really taking on

Moore’s graphic novel is a brutal clash between two extremes: a fascist regime (Norsefire) that rules through fear, and an anarchist (V) willing to burn the whole thing down. The book digs into ugly stuff — ethnic cleansing, nationalist paranoia, and the seductive logic of control — and it expects you to sit with the discomfort. V himself is intentionally murky; think Rorschach-level ambiguity, not a tragic heartthrob. If HBO wants to adapt the source, not the mythology around it, they have to go where the book goes: dark, messy, and morally complicated.

Why Alan Moore disowned the movie

The film is beloved by a lot of people and did well. Moore was not one of them. He publicly distanced himself from the adaptation, even asking that his name be removed from the credits. Warner Bros. once pushed the idea that Moore was excited about the movie; he shot that down. In an old MTV interview (resurfaced via ComicBook.com), he summed up his issue with the film’s politics in one swing:

"Those words, 'fascism' and 'anarchy,' occur nowhere in the film. It’s been turned into a Bush-era parable by people too timid to set a political satire in their own country."

That’s the core complaint: the movie swaps the book’s razor-edged fascism-vs-anarchy framework for a more palatable, timely allegory, and turns V into a romantic hero instead of an ideologue who makes you uneasy.

The book is harsher, stranger, and way more political

On the page, V is not a savior. He’s a catalyst. The story doesn’t end with a neat bow or a healing montage. It ends where it should: incomplete, unsettling, and challenging you to ask whether tearing down power fixes anything or just rearranges the rubble. If HBO is going to do this, they need to embrace the depravity and chaos of both sides — the state’s machinery of fear and V’s unflinching anarchism — instead of sanding it down.

What the show needs to get right

Make V ambiguous again. Let Norsefire be terrifying in ways that feel specific — the race hate, the 'cleansing,' the bureaucracy of cruelty. Don’t chase a hopeful finale. Keep the questions loud and the answers unsatisfying. In short: be faithful to the book’s nerve, not the movie’s vibe.

Quick refresher on the 2006 film

• Directed by: James McTeigue
• Cast: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Stephen Fry
• Release date: March 17, 2006
• IMDb: 8.1/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
• Worldwide box office: $134 million
• Production: Silver Pictures
• Where to watch: Apple TV

For the completists: the movie is available to buy or rent on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.

If HBO actually leans into Moore’s version — the extreme politics, the moral vertigo, the refusal to hand out heroes — this could be something. Think Alan Moore will finally like an adaptation with his name on it? Tell me in the comments.