VIDEO: Regina King Straddles the Line Between Cop and Vigilante in Official ‘Watchmen’ Trailer

There’s a thin line between police officer and vigilante in the official trailer for HBO’s “Watchmen.”

Adapted by Emmy-winner Damon Lindelof from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal 1986 graphic novel of the same name, the upcoming series imagines an alternate history where superheroes have become outlaws and cops protect their own identities while also stuffing suspects into trunks and interrogating them like terrorists.

Recent Oscar winner Regina King (“If Beale Street Could Talk”) stars as Angela Abar, a Tulsa police detective who fights crime from behind a mask and soon becomes embroiled at war with a group called the Seventh Kavalry. “People who wear masks are driven by trauma. They’re obsessed with justice because of some injustice they’ve suffered. Ergo the mask, it hides the pain,” one character (Jean Smart) tells her.

“I wear the mask to protect myself,” King counters.

The trailer doesn’t reveal many specific plot points, though it does cryptically tease action and tension aplenty as well as appearances from co-stars like Don Johnson, Jeremy Irons, Tim Blake Nelson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Louis Gossett Jr. “There’s a vast and insidious conspiracy. If I told you about it your head would explode,” Gossett Jr. offers at one point.

“Watchmen” premieres Sunday, Oct. 20 at 9 p.m. on HBO.