It’s too early to call James Gunn‘s new DCU an unqualified success, but things have been going very well so far. Creature Commandos and Peacemaker have been hits among critics despite modest streaming numbers, Superman was one of the biggest movies of 2025, and anticipation for Supergirl and Lanterns couldn’t be higher. Gunn is already trading on that success by announcing new and surprising projects, including a miniseries adapting the classic Alan Moore and David Lloyd comic V for Vendetta.No creative team has been announced yet, but the last guy to tackle V for Vendetta has some advice for whoever will be following in his footsteps. “Don’t be slavish to the graphic novel,” James McTeigue shared with Den of Geek. “There’s some crazy stuff in that graphic novel, which won’t translate well to the screen,” he observes, knowing that changes will draw the ire of the story’s famously cantankerous writer. “I think in Alan Moore’s brain, you would put the graphic novel on a pedestal and you just put the pages up on the screen.”cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});McTeigue offers his thoughts with a wink and a smile, but there’s some truth to his characterization. Moore has recently suggested that adults who love superhero movies are a “precursor to fascism,” but he has long taken issue with adaptations. Sometimes, the frustration comes from the way that movies diminish the formal qualities unique to the medium of comics; other times, his complaints stem from a long history of unfair dealings from DC Comics and its parent company, Warner Bros.With V for Vendetta, the concerns were thematic. Moore called the script written by Lana and Lilly Wachowski “imbecilic,” and took issue with the way the movie dealt with the contrast between anarchism and fascism. “There wasn’t a mention of anarchy as far as I could see,” he said in 2005. “The fascism had been completely defanged. I mean, I think that any references to racial purity had been excised, whereas actually, fascists are quite big on racial purity.” However, V for Vendetta artist David Lloyd has always been supportive of the film, calling it “terrific” and describing watching it as “seeing a painting you’ve done come to life.”The contrast between the two original creators’ reaction to the movie underscores a key element of adaptation, even when talking about McTeigue’s own take on V for Vendetta. “People have many different interpretations to the movie, which I love,” he says. “And in that way, it strikes me that it’s like a piece of music. You bring something to it, and then you take something away depending on what you bring to it. I think the film does that successfully.”Throughout his conversation with Den of Geek, McTeigue notes the “cycles” of authoritarianism in the real world, how they existed when the first issues of the comic book series released in 1981, how they existed when the movie hit theaters in 2006, and how they exist now. These events “speak to when I made it, when Alan Moore made it, when you watch the movie now.”That said, McTeigue also allows that whoever makes the next incarnation of V for Vendetta can better adapt the series just by virtue of the fact that it will be a miniseries instead of a movie. “From what I believe, it’s a more classic retelling of the graphic novel, which they’ll be able to do with eight or 10 hours.”But as demonstrated by McTeigue’s success with V for Vendetta, or even by the excellent HBO miniseries of Moore’s Watchmen, it’s not so much the amount of time a creator has, but what they do with it. As long as those who Gunn has picked to make the next V for Vendetta are making something they consider true and vital, then the series will be at least worthwhile—even if Alan Moore disagrees.The post V for Vendetta Director Has Some Advice for Adapting Alan Moore appeared first on Den of Geek.