Damon Lindelof says it's time to 'throw open the doors' to Watchmen franchise in wake of Emmys win

While the company line for Watchmen has always been that there are no current plans for its future — even as the stunning HBO adaptation from showrunner Damon Lindelof just took home tons of Emmys in the Limited Series categories — the price of success in the entertainment world is pressure to replicate it.

After nabbing 11 Emmy Awards (the most of any show) and delivering some impressive acceptance speeches, the Watchmen squad is still being asked about what's next. And, well, a Limited Series is what it says on the tin: limited. But that doesn't mean there couldn't be an evolution down the line, with Lindelof welcoming someone else into the comic world. Speaking to Variety, the man behind The Leftovers and Lost not only touched on the importance of drawing attention to historical revisionism and racism during the Emmys, but what the future may hold for the show.

“This was the story that I wanted to tell, but it could be much more expansive than this,” Lindelof said. “Not that I see myself as Willy Wonka, but it’s time to bring some other kids into the factory. I couldn’t imagine a greater focus for me than to throw open the doors to the factory and say, ‘I will show you around and tell you what I learned here, but you’ve got to bring the ingredients that you want to mix up here and make your own candy.’”

That's an open invitation to the next generation of writers looking to do something inventive with the Watchmen franchise...though the Willy Wonka metaphor does seem to imply that at least some of these aspiring writers will die candy-coated deaths. Regardless, Lindelof was clear that the show was necessary and long-coming –– which means other interpretations could be equally impactful.

“I think people of color have been wanting to have this conversation and been shouting from the rooftops to have this conversation for decades, if not centuries,” Lindelof said. “I just keep returning back to something that [Emmy-winning star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II] said. We were getting asked, ‘How do you feel about how prescient the show was?’ And Yahya was like, ‘I think the show maybe came along about 40 years too late.’”

As for the future, perhaps another prescient topic could be tackled. But for now, HBO has no current plans for more Watchmen.