A network and a show creator walk into “Abar”... and decide to end their popular and acclaimed show on a high note.
It’s official, show creator Damon Lindelof is stepping away from Watchmen and will not be pursuing a second season of the series.
USA Today reports:
Lindelof told USA TODAY this week that he’s told the story he wants to tell and has no interest in a second season, though he’s “given my blessing” to HBO should it want to pursue a new installment with another writer-producer.
And you know what, a large chunk of people are perfectly fine with that, including me. In fact, given Lindelof’s past interviews about the duration of the show, we were expecting it. While he was ruminating over it for “a couple of months,” he did hint that should he decide to wrap it up, it would be a “complete story” regardless. And hey, if you haven’t watched the series yet (which, actually I hope you stop reading here because I’m driving to spoiler town), you can catch up on the show without the added pressure of having to binge multiple seasons (looking at you, Game of Thrones). Looks like there won’t be any jumping of sharks for Watchmen!
Sure, it would’ve been dope to see the extent of Angela’s (Regina King) powers after we found out God became a black woman (and was not vegan), but not at the expense of the show’s quality (again, looking at you, Game of Thrones). If Lindelof didn’t have a further vision, then “limited series” is where Watchmen should stay.
“It’s really in Damon’s thinking about what he wants to do,” HBO programming chief Casey Bloys told USA Today on Wednesday. “If there’s an idea that excited him about another season, another installment, maybe like a Fargo [or] True Detective 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.”
I did fear HBO would be all, “Well, bye, bitch... but, how about these great ratings and social media engagement?”, but it seems they are completely on board with the show creator. Whatever Lindelof says goes.
“It would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way,” Bloys added.
“I think one of the cool things about Watchmen is it’s sort of using the superhero genre,” Lindelof told The Root back in October at the series’ world premiere. “But even in the ’80s, this particular superhero thing was about real people living in the real world. And it was an examination of America—in fact, the really ugly sides of it. I think, traditionally, we see superheroes fighting like aliens from space or super villains who want to take over the world. Watchmen, the original dealt with political anxieties [and] societal anxieties. As we look at what the world looks like in 2019, we wanted our superheroes to be living in a world where evil is not that easy to defeat and see how they deal with that.”