If 'Watchmen' Season 2 Happens, It Probably Won't Involve Damon Lindelof; Plus: Who Is Lube Man?

Watchmen aired its season finale last night – but what if it turns out to be a series finale as well? As of the writing of this story, HBO has yet to announce a second season. And if they do, there's a very good chance showrunner Damon Lindelof won't be returning. Before the show even premiered, Lindelof told a crowd at New York Comic-Con that the first season was planed out as something completely self-contained, and that a second season might not happen. Now, Lindelof is doubling-down, confirming that he has no plans for a second season at this time.

But enough about that. Let's get an answer to the show's biggest, most important question: Who is Lube Man?

This might be a controversial statement, but I'd be perfectly fine with Watchmen ending after its first phenomenal season. The show concluded perfectly, wrapped-up nearly everything, and left us with a killer final scene. And it sounds like Damon Lindelof agrees. "This is a love letter and an examination of the original Watchmen," Lindelof told EW. "I wanted everyone to know this is not the middle of the trilogy, this is not the beginning of a seven-season run. In my opinion, the best iteration of any season of Watchmen would mirror the original [graphic novel] in that it would be a self-contained story with the resolution of a fundamental mystery."

The showrunner gave a similar statement to Rolling Stone. While Lindelof added that he would never say "never", he added: "Every single idea that we had is onscreen and presented in these nine episodes. And there isn't anything that occurred to us that was like, 'Oh, that would be a good Season Two. We should save that.” Everything that we wanted to do, we did. So I feel like the plate is empty. There's nothing rattling around in my brain right now that feels like a compulsion to do more."

Lindelof continued: "Right now, I don't have any more ideas. Whether you call something a limited series or an ongoing series, that's fodder for awards consideration. I'm not comfortable calling this anything other than nine complete episodes with a beginning, a middle, and an end. There is no promise of a continuation. Although others may disagree."

So it sure sounds like Lindelof is done with Watchmen. However, that doesn't mean HBO feels the same way. Lindelof even adds that he would "be thrilled" if HBO brought in a new showrunner to take over and taking the series in another direction.

But enough about that. Let's get down to something more important: the identity of Lube Man. The mysterious figure that Regina King's Angela Abar saw dousing himself in some sort of lube and then sliding into a sewer remained unremarked upon for the rest of the show. But fans have long assumed the figure was Agent Dale Petey, an FBI agent who came to Tulsa with Laurie Blake. Peteypedia, the site that provided official supplementary material to the show, strongly hinted at this, and after the season finale aired, the site uploaded a final entry that all but spells it out.

The entry is in the form of an internal memo announcing Petey being fired from the FBI. In the body of the memo, there's this:

Similarly, a maintenance crew will be boxing up the contents of Petey's office later this afternoon. Anyone interested in taking anything from the stacks of media, ephemera, and straight-up junk cluttering his workspace — multiple copies of Rorschach's Journal, hundreds of "comic" books (why our society is still so obsessed with pirates is beyond me) and a jug of what appears to be some kind of canola oil, help yourselves.

The canola oil certainly sounds like something Lube Man would use. The memo concludes: "It's clear now from his memos that Petey (Hero Enthusiast-Obsessive/ Solipsist on the Werthem Spectrum) is at risk for vigilante behavior, and most likely, always was. Perhaps sooner or later, this task force will be investigating him."

When asked about the identity of Lube Man, Lindelof directed the curious to Peteypedia, and added: "I will not give you a definitive answer to your question, but I will say all the clues are there to reach the obvious conclusion."