Hot off a big New Series win at the WGA Awards earlier this month and heading in to this weekend’s NAACP Image Awards, HBO’s Watchmen is taking on a new category and perhaps more seasons.
“We discussed with the producers and felt limited series was the most accurate representation of the show and any possible future installments,” the WarnerMedia owned premium cabler said in a statement today
Ostensibly laying the foundation for awards considerations to come, HBO’s statement also has ambiguity and ambition written all over it.
In set of tea leaves, that shift from drama series to the more poignant category sure looks to open the door that the acclaimed Damon Lindelof show based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ iconic 1980s comic series will be back for more after its initial nine-episode run last fall.
The Hunt co-writer Lindelof has said repeatedly that while he envisioned the December 15 concluding Watchmen as a self-contained story like the comics, he would be open to more seasons if there was the right tale to tell. In more recent weeks, there’s been faint indications that Watchmen could take on an anthology of sorts form, with contained stories like what American Horror Story or Fargo have attempted over the years.
Still the situation remains very fluid, I hear – hence the cover all bases statement by HBO today.
Creative concerns aside, the bottom line fact is the Regina King-led series was a critical and commercial hit for a now Game of Thrones-less HBO. Lindelof or not Lindelof, that ultimately can’t be something HBO programming chief Casey Bloys or the AT&T overlords want to give up, at least not without a fight.
Maybe we’ll get to see the Impeachment trial of President Robert Redford after all …with witnesses.