'Lost' Creator Damon Lindelof Addresses Reboot Rumors and Why 'Watchmen' Is a Must-Watch! (Exclusive)
Is it time to go back?!
It's been almost 10 years since Lost perplexed and delighted viewers with its final episode in May 2010, and now we're left wondering if the passengers of Flight 815 will ever head back to The Island.
Given today's ultra-popular TV trend of reboots, reunions specials and spinoffs, many fans are asking if the long-running ABC series will take flight one again. In fact, earlier this year, ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke expressed a strong desire to revisit the island drama.
"Yes, I would like that very much. That is a reboot I would be interested in seeing," Burke told reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour in February.
So when ET recently sat down with Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof at the junket for his highly anticipated HBO series, Watchmen, we asked him to set the record straight on all those reboot rumors once and for all.
"My feeling is that just like [how] Watchmen was someone else's story or Star Trek was someone else story, then you kind of pass the baton and things go on," the showrunner said, referring to the fact that his new series is based on Alan Moore's iconic Watchmen graphic novels, and Lindelof was a producer for the big-screen remake of Star Trek (2009) and the writer of Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).
"I, personally, am not going to be involved with other versions of Lost because we told the most complete version," Lindelof clarified. "I feel like I spent four years of my life begging them to end it and when they finally said yes, the ending that we did probably should stand as our ending."
The executive producer continued, "That said, I know that it is inevitable that someone else is going to come along and say, 'I have a new idea for Lost,' and I'm kind of excited about it and very curious about it. I think that would be sort of immensely flattering and super exciting to see what someone else would do with it."
Lindelof currently has his hands full with his dream project as the creator and executive producer of the new Watchmen TV series, which premieres on HBO this Sunday, Oct. 20.
In May 2018, Lindelof posted an impassioned and lengthy open letter to Watchmen fans on Instagram expressing his sincere admiration for the original graphic novels and his plan to "remix" the canon material for the new HBO drama.
When asked if there's anything more he'd like to express to the fans before they tune in this Sunday, the TV tycoon joked that he's sure he already covered everything he needed.
"It was way too long! I probably said too much already. Should have just said, 'Hope you like it! xo Damon winky face,'" he said with a smile. "I think I just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of this thing Watchmen. It's largely responsible for everything I know and love about writing. It inspired me and, dear Lord, I hope I don't screw it up. Instead, I said all that in seven pages."
One of the things Lindelof is most excited for Watchmen fans to discover are all of the special Easter eggs he's hidden throughout the first season.
"I think Watchmen, for me, invented the idea of Easter eggs. This comic book had so many hidden details. You had to read each issue three or four times to find things," he explained. "So I learned it from Watchmen and put it into Lost and now it's nice to kind of come back to Watchmen and say, 'Just so we're clear, this is where I stole this.' So there are a lot of eggs. Literal eggs in Watchmen and Easter eggs."
So what's the one thing Lindelof wants audiences to know before tuning in to the first episode of Watchmen?
"I would say that they should probably know that in November of 1985 an enormous alien squid landed in the middle of New York City and killed three million people. That's probably the only thing you need to know," he said. "And if that sounds weird, you've come to the right place."
Watchmen premieres Sunday, Oct. 20 at 9 p.m. EST/PST on HBO.
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