On Wednesday, at the Television Critics Association tour, the good folks at Variety successfully cornered HBO programming chief Casey Bloys (okay, they probably didn't have to "corner" him, they're Variety) to inquire about the future of Watchmen, Damon Lindelof's extremely well-received pseudo-sequel to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' seminal comic book series.
Bloys' answer to that question is remarkably frank:
“Damon did such a wonderful job with this; I’m giving him the time to think about what he wants to do, and I’m really taking his lead on this. And he’s said publicly, if he’s got an idea, he’s willing to do it, but nothing has come to him, so I will just wait on him and see what he decides to do. I want to do what Damon wants, whether it’s another installment of Watchmen or something else. Damon is who I want to work with. So I would love for it to be another season or installment of Watchmen, or something else altogether, but it’s really up to Damon what he wants to do.”
Then there's this:
What the premium cabler will do if Lindelof decides that he wants to move on from the series is “hard to know.”
Even though Watchmen is based on the 1986 graphic novel of the same name, the HBO adaptation “is so much from Damon’s head,” said Bloys. “It’s hard to imagine, but let’s see.”
A reading of the tea leaves hardly seems necessary here, right? HBO's willing to do whatever Lindelof wants to do next. Maybe that's another season of Watchmen, maybe it's something else entirely. Maybe, if Lindelof decides to move on, they'll consider a second season without him - as hard as that might be for them to imagine at this time. If there are any lines to read between here, it's probably that bit at the very end; our suspicion is that a second season of Watchmen will happen with or without Lindelof, and that Bloys is being diplomatic about that reality for the time being. That said, we'll see what happens.
Is another season of Watchmen a good idea? That's highly debatable! On the one hand, we'd love to return to that world and find out what happens next. On the other hand, Watchmen's first season ended perfectly, and it's a miracle the show was as excellent as it was the first time around. Might be best not to tempt fate.
Anyway, we're eager to see where things go from here, and will keep you informed as further Watchmen updates roll in. Stay tuned.