HBO's Watchmen was one of the best shows of 2019 and its ending had many fans wondering where it could go next. Problem is, showrunner Damion Lindelof has no interest in continuing his work on it. The Lost creator claims that he's told the story he wanted to tell and is ready to move on to other things but has given his blessing for HBO to continue the show with another creative at the helm. HBO remains hesitant to continue the show without him but if Lindelof were to become excited by another showrunner's vision and agree to stay on as a producer it seems more than likely that Watchmen could receive the follow-up fans are clambering for. To that end, here are ten writers who could potentially take over the second season and knock it out of the park.
10 Melissa Rosenberg
Watchmen, particularly the latest season, is a gritty series with a dark sense of humor and an emphasis on lead female characters. Sound like any other recent hit superhero shows? Exactly. Melissa Rosenberg ran Netflix's Jessica Jones series and managed to create arguably the most acclaimed show of the bench out of by far the least well-known character.
Jessica Jones herself was one of the most complicated and nuanced leads on television and Rosenberg's story showed the same ear for social issues that Lindelof's did. Jessica Jones wasn't even her only hit as she also served as a producer and writer for Showtime's Dexter. If HBO wants to keep tackling social issues with a hell of a lot of style they'd be hard-pressed to find someone more qualified than Melissa Rosenberg.
9 Noah Hawley
Another showrunner with a track record of crushing trippy and stylish superhero television is Noah Hawley, who created Legion for FX. Hawley has also shown a knack for more grounded crime stories with his Fargo series that somehow managed to be even better than the excellent movie that inspired it.
Hawley would bring a very different aesthetic and sense of humor than was previously seen with Lindelof, but if the show decided to grow into more of an anthology, as HBO has suggested it could, then who better to take over than the man who created the best anthology show on television?
8 Sam Esmail
The Mr. Robot scribe has never tackled superheroes specifically, but the show that made him famous is every bit as twisty and high concept as Lindelof's Watchmen. Esmail has shown an interest in telling the stories of the downtrodden through works like the aforementioned USA darling, Homecoming, and the upcoming Gaslit about forgotten characters in the Watergate scandal.
Esmail has proven his ability to tell engrossing mysteries centered around bizarre characters on multiple occasions so if HBO is looking for a new showrunner to pick up Lindelof's torch without totally reinventing how the series works then Esmail is the man for the job.
7 Vince Gilligan
When people think of Vince Gilligan it's usually as the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Now, with the release of El Camino, Gilligan has built himself a whole cinematic universe that seems likely to be coming to an end with the impending conclusion of Saul. What people forget is that before the Breaking Bad-iverse, Gilligan wrote for The X-Files and co-wrote Will Smith's Hancock.
Gilligan has spent years living in the very grounded New Mexico-set world he's built, but in Watchmen he has a chance to get back to his sci-fi and fantasy roots. Gilligan is a master of character arcs and it would be incredibly exciting to see him take over as the architect of Watchmen, whether he continued Lindelof's story or started from a whole new corner of that word.
6 Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is one of the hottest commodities in television right now and it's easy to see why. Both Fleabag and Killing Eve are incredibly well-written and binge-able, and her upcoming HBO series, Run, looks likely to continue that streak of success. She was even brought in to punch-up the dialogue in what will be Daniel Craig's final James Bond movie.
If working on No Time To Die gives her a taste for the high concept, then a continued partnership with HBO in the form of Watchmen would be incredibly exciting. Imagine the gold she could spin from Pirate Jenny and Red Scare.
5 Donald Glover
Next up is Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Solo castmate, Atlanta creator/star, and icon, Donald Glover. Atlanta is a show that has shown a willingness and ability to morph into whatever it needs to be from coming of age story to celebrity spoof to legit horror. Whatever the genre, Glover has been up to the challenge, so it's easy to see him taking on the mishmash of ideas that is Watchmen and bringing it to the next level.
Glover has also long shown an interest in nerdy stories, as evidenced by his Star Wars fandom and long-standing desire to play Spider-Man, so his sensibilities would slide right into Watchmen like a mustard covered pretzel into a butt. Plus, if Watchmen is going to continue its conversation about race in America then it makes sense to have a person of color as the leading voice in that conversation.
4 Bryan Fuller
Bryan Fuller has had a hard time sticking with and keeping his projects going. After the gruesome Hannibal was kicked off network TV for being too, well, gross, he moved on to American Gods where his and Michael Green's run ended over budget disputes. After that, he created Star Trek: Discovery for CBS All Access but quickly left that behind as well. Now Fuller finds himself in need of a new project, and Watchmen just might be the perfect landing spot.
Fuller's shows have all had one thing in common, they're absolutely gorgeous to look at, and that dedication to aesthetic would make the already visually stunning Watchmen even more eye-catching. Furthermore, Fuller has shown a willingness to engage in the kinds of topics discussed in Lindelof's season, most notably with American Gods, so the conversation that Lindelof started would be well taken care of in Fuller's hands.
3 Marti Noxon
Three of the biggest elements of Watchmen are unlikely heroes, scheming and backstabbing, and meditations on trauma, so when searching for a new showrunner, who better to look to than the writer of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, UnREAL, and Sharp Objects, the latter two of which she created.
Marti Noxon has one of the most stacked resumes on this list and her Watchmen would represent an exciting mix of razor-sharp cruelty and unbridled empathy. She already has a relationship with HBO through Sharp Objects and has created one stellar series after another. She could easily add Watchmen to her list of hits.
2 David Lynch
Okay, this one is definitely a long shot. David Lynch has been hesitant to involve himself in franchises in the past and is such a singular creative force that trying to trap him in someone else's sandbox never really works out. But Watchmen has the potential to be the exception to that rule.
As Lindelof's wholely unique take has shown, putting together a season of this show comes with far more freedom than say, adapting Dune or finishing the original Star Wars trilogy. Imagine what Lynch could do with Dr. Manhattan's powers or with the unexplored trauma of the incarcerated Night Owl. Or even more exciting, remember how wild and intense the nostalgia drug trip episode was? Now think about David Lynch's take on that concept. It's not likely to happen, but boy would it be incredible.
1 Ava Duvernay
Ava DuVernay is on the top of many shows and movies wishlist following the success of When They See Us and she'll next be tackling a New Gods movie for the DCEU. That foray into superherodom could lead nicely into Watchmen, where her socially conscious story instincts and knack for high concept action would be a match made in heaven for the show.
On top of her writing ability, DuVernay is an even more accomplished director with Selma, 13th, and A Wrinkle in Time under her belt, making her the most exciting choice to direct a few episodes on this list aside from David Lynch.
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