A Big Blow For Regina King Fans, Watchmen Will Not Return for a Second Season

HBO’s Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof has closed the door, resoundingly, on his long-running “will he? won’t he?” public decision-making about returning for a second season of the series.

According to USA Today, Lindelof has “no interest in a second season” but he says he has given HBO “my blessing” to continue on with someone else.

HBO’s programming chief Casey Bloys responded, saying “It would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way.”

“Where we left it with Damon was he’s thinking about what he wants to do and I’m taking his lead on that,” HBO head Casey Bloys told The Hollywood Reporter at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour. “If he has an idea that he’s excited about, then I’m excited; if he wants to do something else, then that’s what I want to do.”

Back in December, Lindelof told The Hollywood Reporter that he would “welcome” other candidates be considered to continue Watchmen.

“Maybe that idea is going to come from someone else,” Lindelof said of further seasons. “I would welcome that, 100%.”

The first season did tell a self-contained story, so it’s easy to see why Lindelof would want to walk away. But it also ended with a cliffhanger, just like the graphic novel did.

The answer to what happened to Angela Abar (Regina King) after she ate that egg is enough to set up more storylines. And Lindelof certainly left himself plenty of other interesting ways to continue on. We want to know if Sister Night really walked on water, and just exactly what happened to Agent Dale Petey.

But as of now, it seems like we will never find out. If HBO truly won’t go on without Lindelof, and Lindelof isn’t going forward with a second season, that’s it. It’s not what we want, but there are worse fates than being one of the all-time great one-hit television wonders.