Despite the commercial and critical success of HBO’s Watchmen, the network will not pursue a second season.
In an interview with USA Today, Casey Bloys, HBO’s president of programming, said that creator Damon Lindelof was not interested in bringing the show back. “It’s really in Damon’s thinking about what he wants to do,” Bloys said. “If there’s an idea that excited him about another season, another installment, maybe like a Fargo, True Detective anthology 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 is what Damon wants to do.”
Although Lindelof had previously stated he was “thinking” about a second season of Watchmen as long as he had the right idea and the right motivation, that evidently never came to fruition. In a follow-up with USA Today, Lindelof said that he has already told the story he wanted to tell and is ready to move on. However, he did say he has “given his blessing” should HBO want to go forward with another creator.
The network, it seems, is not interested in continuing the series with anyone else but Lindelof. As Bloys stated: “It would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way.”
Watchmen was an ambitious, creative adaptation of Alan Moore’s famous 1987 graphic novel of the same name. In a newly imagined story, taking place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 34 years after the comics and in an alternate reality, the drama was one of the most politically charged and socially relevant series in recent memory. Although lead actresses Jean Smart and Regina King won Critic Choice Awards for their performances in the show, Watchmen was widely considered one of the most significant Golden Globe snubs.
After the end of Game of Thrones, Watchmen gave HBO another show that was practically appointment viewing, with countless blogs creating weekly recaps to break down episodes, discuss clues, and consider theories about the series.
The story, Easter eggs, and theories all came together in a final, riveting episode. Unfortunately for its many fans, it seems like the season-ending cliffhanger really will be the end.
