In the nearly 10 years since its release, Zack Snyder's Watchmen has become a seminal moment in the world of superhero cinema, with some fans praising the director's visionary take on the classic comic book while detractors point out a variety of the film's shortcomings. Looking back on the experience, star Jeffrey Dean Morgan calls the film "ahead of its time," which could be the reasoning behind the divergent opinions.

"I'm very proud of that movie. People are still finding it and watching it and I think it'll have fans forever. I think it was ahead of its time," Morgan shared with Variety. "I don't know what else to say, other than I'm extremely proud of it. Not long ago, I caught the second half of the film, just flipping channels, and loved it. It was great."

The original book from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons was considered one of the most difficult stories to adapt in any live-action medium, given the dense themes and mature subject matter, yet the success of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins helped confirm that audiences were ready for more adult-oriented superhero stories than fans had previously seen. Hot off the success of his 300 adaptation, Snyder was tapped to bring the film to life with his compelling visual style, delivering audiences the epic tale.

The adaptation didn't become as beloved as many had hoped, taking in merely $185 million worldwide on a reported budget of $130 million. Over at review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film scored 64 percent positive reviews with 300 entries tallied, calling the film, "Gritty and visually striking, Watchmen is a faithful adaptation of Alan Moore's graphic novel, but its complex narrative structure may make it difficult for it to appeal to viewers not already familiar with the source material."

In hopes of capitalizing on the story's potential, Damon Lindelof is developing a Watchmen series for HBO, with a longer total runtime allowing the series to explore a variety of elements more thoroughly.

"Watchmen -- it was dangerous," Lindelof explained last year of his project. "And you can't be dangerous for dangerous' sake, but the reason that I'm doing this is these are dangerous times and we need dangerous shows. What we think about superheroes is wrong. I love the Marvel movies and we saw Justice League this morning and I’m all for Wonder Woman and Batman and I grew up on these characters, but we should not trust people who put on masks and say that they are looking out for us. If you hide your face, you are up to no good.”

The Watchmen TV series does not currently have a release date.

Do you think Snyder's film was ahead of its time? Let us know in the comments below!

[H/T Twitter, Variety]