It's definitely beginning to look as if a Season 2 of Watchmen on HBO won't be happening. The show, which was created by Damon Lindelof, completed its nine-episode first season back in December of 2019 and was met with widespread critical and audience acclaim. Although the Watchmen TV show offered a number of changes from the original Watchmen comic, both new and old fans seemed to appreciate the version Lindelof was trying to create.
In fact, so many people were taken aback by the quality of the show's first season some have said a second season of Watchmen shouldn't happen at all, lest the show risk ruining its already stellar reputation or rehashing elements which it already thoroughly covered. With so many movie franchises and television shows carrying on far longer than they should, many people were nervous a break-out hit like Watchmen would fall into a similar pattern. However, this doesn't appear to be the case.
According to a report by USA Today, it looks as if eager fans will be waiting a long time for Watchmen season 2, if one ever arrives at all, as Lindelof told the paper he's "already told the story he wants to tell and has no interest in a second season." The show's creator went one step further, reportedly saying he's already "given my blessing" to HBO to continue the show with another person at the helm. However, that doesn't appear to be what HBO wants to do.
Casey Bloys, Programming Chief for HBO, spoke about how brilliant Lindelof's adaptation of the Watchmen graphic novel was, and said "It's really in Damon's thinking about what he wants to do. If there's an idea that excited him about another season...maybe like a Fargo, True Detective take on it, or if he wants to do something different altogether... It would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way." Whether this means a theoretical second season of Watchmen could see the series travelling to different time periods or starting over with all-new cast members remains to be seen, but right now it doesn't look like HBO will continue without Lindelof.
The idea of Watchmen becoming an anthology series is one which Lindelof has previously posed before, and something which could see the creator exercising new types of creative choices and freedoms while still benefiting from the fanbase of the original season. Even so, the same pressures to deliver something equally as good as Watchmen season 1 would be unavoidable, and perhaps the creator just wants to make something completely new. For now it doesn't look as if HBO will move forward on a Watchmen season 2 without Lindelof, but in a few years both the show's creator and the network may have changed their minds.
Source: USA Today