HBO and Damon Lindelof Aren’t Moving Forward with Watchmen Season 2

Fan’s and critics both loved HBO’s Watchmen, and seemed to end on a cliffhanger that demanded a second season—or did it? But despite the success of the first season, Damon Lindelof, the show’s creator and runner, isn’t interested in making a second season. And since Lindelof isn’t interested in making Watchmen Season 2, neither is HBO.

HBO on Lindelof Deciding to Move On

Image via HBO

In an interview with USA Today, HBO programming chief Casey Bloys explained that Lindelof “brilliantly took and just kind of broke it open and created a whole new world.” This world explored the long-term effects of Ozymandias’s actions at the end of the graphic novel. It rains squids, Robert Redford is president, and Rorschach inspired a new generation of white supremacists. So, you know, good thing Ozzy killed all those people.

Casey further explained, “It’s really in Damon’s thinking about what he wants to do. If there’s an idea that excited him about another season, another installment, maybe like a ‘Fargo,’ ‘True Detective’,” both anthology series, “take on it, or if he wants to do something different altogether. We’re very proud of ‘Watchmen,’ but what I’m most interested in what Damon wants to do.”

Lindelof Might Have Learned From Lost Mistakes

Image via ABC

Before working with HBO on Watchmen, Lindelof was most well-known for his work on ABC’s Lost. That show started as a plane crash survivor story and turned into a time-traveling, parallel universe, sci-fi epic. It was a show with a lot of mystery, and for Lindelof, a lot of misery. While he is proud of the show, he’s also very open about how much anguish the show caused—and that they did, sometimes, make it up as it went along. By walking away now, he doesn’t put himself in the same position of trying to please fans and have a concrete storyline for multiple seasons. In other words, he quit while he was ahead.

The Chances of Seeing a Watchmen Season 2? And Should We?

Image via HBO

Pretty much none. Though Lindelof, as a fan, would love to see HBO pursue a season 2 of Watchmen, and “gave blessing” to do so, HBO knows that without Lindelof, the show wouldn’t have the same impact. Bloys told USA Today “It would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way.”

But this might be for the best. Remember, Lindelof purposely wrote the last episode of Lost to include more mysteries that would never be explained. So that cliffhanger? Not really a cliffhanger. He likes ambiguity. He loves open-ended questions. In fact, he’s delighted that after a decade, people still discuss the Lost ending. It’s his gift to the fans—we can have theories and arguments for years on end.

So, what are your theories on what is probably the series finale of Watchmen?

Roman Colombo finished his MFA in 2010 and now teaches writing and graphic novel literature at various Philadelphia colleges. His first novel, Trading Saints for Sinners, was published in 2014. He's currently working on his next novel and hoping to find an agent soon.