Watchmen season 2 unlikely as original showrunner bows out

Watchmen review
(Image credit: HBO)

Don't hold your breath waiting for answers to that Watchmen cliffhanger, as it looks like season 2 is not happening. 

According to USA Today, showrunner Damon Lindelof told the publication that "he's told the story he wants to tell and has no interest in a second season" but he's given his blessing to HBO, should the company want to create another season with a different writer-producer. And considering HBO executive Casey Bloys recently told USA Today the second season was entirely in Lindelof's hands, and "it would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way", the future doesn't look too bright. 

The first season of Watchmen enjoyed rave reviews from fans and critics alike, with Lindelof taking Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ graphic novel as source material and morphing it into a world of its own that eerily echoed modern society.

This may be upsetting, but it's certainly not a surprise. Lindelof has openly spoken about his hesitancy to do another season of Watchmen and discussed it as more of a one-and-done, limited series kind of event. He told Vanity Fair: “Whether or not I’ll be involved will be driven almost entirely by whether or not I come up with an idea that I feel is worthy of telling another story… But it’s its own thing – it’s so much bigger than me.” Looks like he couldn't come up with anything compelling...

Even though HBO has said it can't imagine what Watchmen season 2 would look like without Lindelof, this is the same company that gave us True Detective season 2, so anything is possible. As for now, however, don't count on a second season of the Robert-Redford-as-president alternate universe - which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as dragging out a series' existence doesn't always have the best results (see True Detective season 2). 

Spoilers abound, but check out the Watchmen season 1 ending explained.   

Alyssa Mercante

Alyssa Mercante is an editor and features writer at GamesRadar based out of Brooklyn, NY. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.

Latest in DC TV Shows
Peacemaker
Peacemaker season 2 star says the show feels like the DCU's "cool kid" as it's one of James Gunn's "first babies": "I'm excited to see how that expands and grows"
Harley Quinn in Harley Quinn season 5
Harley Quinn references The Batman with hilariously specific Easter egg you might not have noticed
Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher in Reacher season 3
Reacher star Alan Ritchson wants to play Batman so bad, he says "you wouldn't even have to pay me"
A screenshot of the title card for the upcoming DC show, Starfire.
James Gunn confirms that the Starfire animated TV show will be Elseworlds like Batman and Joker
Aaron Pierre as John Stewart and Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan in Lanterns
The first look at Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler's Green Lantern TV series is here – and DC fans are losing it over Hal Jordan's ring
The Penguin
Colin Farrell says he is "open to" doing The Penguin season 2, but has "no deep desire" to return
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"