Why HBO’s Watchmen Creator Still Won’t Return For A Season 2 (Despite Wanting More)

After a few years of silence, Damon Lindelof is explaining why he won’t return for a potential Watchmen season 2 at HBO. Based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel of the same name, the series acted as a sequel to the source material, centering on mostly new characters while still being set in the same alternate reality and featuring the returns of Doctor Manhattan, Hooded Justice, Ozymandias and Silk Spectre. Scoring widespread acclaim and winning 11 Emmys, the show’s runaway success seemingly made Watchmen season 2 an inevitability.

In order to promote his Peacock series, Mrs. Davis, Damon Lindelof caught up with Esquire for their “Explain This” series in which the creator is presented with a variety of things from his career and shares insight on them. When asked about a potential Watchmen season 2, the HBO show creator remained fervent he would not want to return to lead the charge on a continuation, despite wanting to see more of the series itself. See what Lindelof explained below:

Watchmen was 12 issues of a comic book when I was growing up in the ‘80s and then they stuck it into something called a graphic novel and that was it, it had a beginning, middle and end, and people kind of left it alone. The creator of Watchmen, Alan Moore, didn’t want anybody to ever do anything with it, but things being what they are in the age of IP, or intellectual property, it was just a matter of time before somebody did, and I couldn’t stomach the idea that somebody else was going to work on Watchmen and I would be jealous that I didn’t work on it, or that it wasn’t any good, so I felt like if I’m going to be angry, at least I should take a stab at it.

But it was really important that it retain the character of the original Watchmen, which was that it had a beginning, middle and end, and so while I think the story could potentially go in new and exciting places, I don’t think that I should be working on any more Watchmen, because this is a car that you should get to drive, but it doesn’t belong to you.

What A Watchmen Season 2 Could Explore

This isn’t the first time Lindelof expressed a disinterest in returning as showrunner for a potential Watchmen season 2, having previously given his blessing to any showrunner who may have an idea to continue the show should HBO renew it. While some creators have come around to revisitng their properties with time, Lindelof seems to still be adament about wanting to leave it behind, having delivered a full story akin to the original he fell in love with.

Despite Lindelof’s disinterest in returning, however, there are still a number of paths for a potential Watchmen season 2 to explore should HBO find another creative mind with promising ideas like the former showrunner. The biggest question still lingering three years later is whether Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Doctor Manhattan actualy transferred his powers to the egg left in Angela’s home, and whether Regina King’s character eating it resulted in her acquiring them. Though Lindelof has confirmed she received Manhattan’s powers, the cut to black has made it a point of debate among viewers.

Related: Watchmen: 5 Things Fans Want To See In Season 2 (& 5 They Don’t)Another potential storyline for a Watchmen season 2 to explore would be Ozymanidas’ trial, having finally been taken into custody for initiating the squid attack in 1985. Given the emotional nature of his arc in season 1, and his connections to both the original Watchmen lore and new characters, would create a path for season 2 to explore new territory while revisiting what audiences loved about the first.

Source: Esquire