Watchmen Season 2: Release Date, Story, Will It Happen?
Watchmen season 2 is something that fans are looking forward to after season 1, and here's everything we know so far. Executive producer Damon Lindelof's ambitious "remix" of and sequel to the classic graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons concluded its critically-acclaimed season 1 by telling an impressively complex, complete story that answered myriad questions set up in the early episodes.
Set 34 years after the comics, Watchmen season 1 transplanted the action to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and re-examined its history of masked superheroes through the lens of racial injustice in America. The series lead was a new African-American heroine named Detective Angela Abar AKA Sister Night (Regina King) but Watchmen also honored the graphic novel by bringing back Adrian Veidt AKA Ozymandias (Jeremy Irons), Laurie Blake AKA Silk Spectre (Jean Smart), Hooded Justice AKA Will Reeves (Louis Gossett, Jr) and, most importantly, Doctor Manhattan (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and continued their stories in intriguing new ways. Everyone was caught up in a war between the masked Tulsa Police and a white supremacist cult called the Seventh Kavalry. Meanwhile, a trillionaire genius named Lady Trieu (Hong Chau) enacted her mysterious plot to "save humanity".
After the successive mind-bending twists in episodes 6, 7, and 8, the Watchmen season 1 finale seems to culminate in an interesting way for Doctor Manhattan - but despite what happens in the finale, the future is still open for more stories to be told. After all, the Watchmen graphic novel told a standalone story that was able to be continued on television. So, will there be a Watchmen season 2? Here's everything we know.
HBO has not renewed Watchmen for season 2 and no plans for it have been announced. Despite Watchmen's status as a ratings hit and the best performer on HBO since Big Little Lies as well as a social media sensation, Lindelof's series looks like a one-and-done - at least for now. Commendably, Lindelof conceived Watchmen as a complete story akin to how the graphic novel told a finished tale. Lindelof even admits that he wasn't thinking about Watchmen season 2 while he was making season 1 and that he's not sure if he should do another season. The executive producer also reminds fans that he doesn't own Watchmen and that potentially, someone else can take the reins with a new vision for Watchmen season 2.
Even if Watchmen season 2 were announced soon, there's no telling how long it would take before fans got to see it. After negotiations for a Watchmen TV series started with the 2009 movie's director, Zack Snyder, in October 2015, Lindelof signed on and work began on Watchmen in September 2017. Taking his time to properly conceive his story and the world of Watchmen 34 years after the graphic novel, Lindelof took two years to bring Watchmen to HBO.
It stands to reason that Watchmen's high quality is due in part to not having to rush to make a mandated release date by HBO and it's likely the network similarly wouldn't force Watchmen season 2 to be made quickly. Even if Lindelof does return for Watchmen season 2, fans can expect a long wait and another two years wouldn't be out of the question. So, tick-tock, tick-tock.
Another open question is what Watchmen season 2's story would be about. Naturally, after fans have become invested in Angela Abar, Looking Glass, and returning characters from the graphic novel like Adrian Veidt and Laurie Blake, everyone would want to know what happens to them next. Hopefully, if Lindelof strikes upon an idea, he could tell the next chapter in his Tulsa, Oklahoma, Watchmen saga.
However, if a totally different filmmaker were to take over Watchmen season 2 and the saga becomes an anthology series like American Horror Story, it could mean a continuation of season 1 or possibly even a totally different story and take on Watchmen. After all, even building off of the mythology Lindelof created, there is 34 years of history that could be mined - or Watchmen season 2 could be a reboot that veers off in a completely different direction and vision.
Whether or not Watchmen season 1's cast returns for season 2 would logically depend on whether Lindelof continues their stories - although considering on how Watchmen season 1 may leave things, there are plenty of ways the saga could keep going. Even though not every character made it to the end of Watchmen season 1, there are a number of intriguing possibilities open for the characters who do survive. If Watchmen season 2 picks up the threads that were opened throughout season 1, that would mean Regina King, Tim Blake Nelson, Jean Smart, and Jeremy Irons could return and Watchmen could even introduce Nite Owl AKA Dan Dreiberg, the biggest comics character who was completely absent from Watchmen season 1.