“Watchmen” closed out a critically acclaimed freshman season on Sunday night but will there be a second season of the show now that the first is finished?
When Damon Lindelof signed onto create a “Watchmen” television series, he did so because there was an idea in his head that he could tell to help carry on the story Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons started back in the 1980’s with the iconic comic book.
Lindelof got to tell that story throughout the first season of “Watchmen,” which came to an end with a season finale on Sunday night on HBO.
Ever since the first episode debuted, fans have been wondering if there would be a second season of “Watchmen,” especially after Lindelof was so cagey about making any kind of commitment past his plans for the nine episodes that just aired on HBO.
Judging by his comments immediately following the finale, Lindelof isn’t expecting to return for a second season of “Watchmen,” but he’s also not closing the door on the possibility either.
“I feel for someone who’s wildly inconsistent in general, I’ve been fairly consistent on this point,” Lindelof told EW. “When we first went public with the pilot at New York Comic-Con, I wanted to make sure that everybody who was going along for the ride knew what the design of the season was. Especially after what happened with “Lost,” and the way that a lot of serialized dramas unfolded, where the audience doesn’t know how thick the book is when they pick it up. This is a love letter and an examination of the original Watchmen. I wanted everyone to know this is not the middle of the trilogy, this is not the beginning of a seven-season run.
“In my opinion, the best iteration of any season of Watchmen would mirror the original [graphic novel] in that it would be a self-contained story with the resolution of a fundamental mystery. There’s always going to be space for more Watchmen. I feel like this world is so expansive — hopefully more expansive now than it was before. You could call something “Watchmen” and not even feature any of the characters who were in the original or in this season as long as they all occupy the same world.”
Lindelof added that when he initially pitched his idea for the first season of “Watchmen” to HBO, he used shows like “True Detective” or “Fargo” as an example how a series could carry on an original story but never be directly connected to one another. In a way, Lindelof intended on his version of “Watchmen” to be an anthology series where he would tell a self-contained story during the first season but he’s not going to shut down the possibility that someone else could come along and want to eventually tell a different story of their own.
“I think particularly when it comes to Watchmen or Fargo where we’re knocking the creators of the original, it’s sacrilegious and really hypocritical to say, ‘Nobody else can come along and do another season of Watchman.’ Lindelof added. “If I was going to do another season of Watchman, I would need to have a really cool idea and a justification for doing it. I don’t have either of those things right now.
“It doesn’t mean that they won’t come at some future point. I just finished the show four weeks ago. My antenna is up, but it’s like only getting static. I can’t say that there will definitely not be a second season and I can’t say there definitely will be. That’s kind of where my head’s at.”
HBO hasn’t made any official announcements regarding the future of “Watchmen” or plans to produce a second season without Lindelof. Judging by how important it was to HBO to get Lindelof involved in the first place, it would seem rather difficult to move forward on another season without having his involvement in some way, shape or form.
With “Watchmen” coming to an end on Sunday night, HBO will likely take some time before making an decisions about another season and that might give Lindelof the break he needs to come up with another story he’s compelled to tell.
