When Damon Lindelof co-created “Lost” with J.J. Abrams and Jeffrey Lieber (who worked on an earlier, what-if-“Survivor”-was-a-drama version), he was a wunderkind with a great reputation, forged on “if nothing else is on” prime time dramas like “Nash Bridges” and “Crossing Jordan.” He clearly had more to say, more to do, and with “Lost,” he rewrote what network television could be.
It was arguably the biggest, boldest, most complex network primetime series since David Lynch and Mark Frost turned television inside out with “Twin Peaks.” “Lost” was unlike anything else. And it inspired countless copycats and passionate fan debate in the process.
And honestly, Lindelof could have coasted on that success. The show is still celebrated and deconstructed. There was a recent concert in Hawaii devoted to the ageless music from Michael Giacchino. It is still streamed and discovered around the world, each and every day.
But Lindelof chose the more difficult path, becoming a patron saint of prestige, adults-only network HBO and, with each new outing, trying something drastically different and infinitely more challenging.
His latest, “Lanterns,” just premiered on HBO and he is already knee-deep in his next project, an adaptation of the bestselling novel “The Chain,” with “Killing Eve” breakout Jodie Comer in the lead role. Whatever it is – and whenever it shows up – it will be an event. Just like every other Lindelof show.
5. “Lanterns” (2026 – ???)
“Lanterns,” co-created with “Ozark” mastermind Chris Mundy and comic book writer Tom King, returns Lindeolf to the DC Comics world he had previously explored in 2019’s Emmy-winning juggernaut “Watchmen.” But whereas “Watchmen” was based on preexisting mythology, taken in a wonderfully weird direction, “Lanterns” exists firmly in a preestablished continuum – that of the new DC Universe, overseen by James Gunn and Peter Safran. How, exactly, “Lanterns” slots into the larger world that includes “Superman,” “Peacemaker” and this past summer’s “Supergirl,” remains to be seen (we were only given the first four episodes of the eight-episode first season), but as of now, this is pure excellence, mixing grand sci-fi with human-scale drama.
Kyle Chandler plays a seasoned member of the Green Lantern Corps, who is tasked with mentoring a young upstart (Aaron Pierre). Together, they uncover a conspiracy in the American heartland that stretches to the cosmos and beyond. Several Lindelofian trademarks, including an impish need to deconstruct our heroes and a structure that shifts around restlessly in time, are on full display. And wh0 knows? By the time the season is over, it could rise higher in the list. Sadly, should the show return, Lindelof won’t be back. He has yet another HBO series – “The Chain,” based on Adrian McKinty’s 2019 novel – that he’s working on instead of coming back to the DC Universe.
4. “Mrs. Davis” (2023)
This Peacock series, co-created with Tara Hernandez, flew so far under the radar that you might not have even heard of “Mrs. Davis.” This is a shame because the show really is brilliant. And in 2026, the show feels even more prescient. The long and short of “Mrs. Davis” is that it follows a nun (Betty Gilpin) on a quest to destroy a malevolent AI (the titular Mrs. Davis). When Mrs. Davis interfaces with Gilpin’s Sister Simone, she offers her an exchange – if Simone can obtain the Holy Grail, then Mrs. Davis will delete herself. And that is the tip of the iceberg – alternately wacky and deeply emotional, with a terrific supporting cast that includes Jake McDorman, Margo Martindale, Ben Chaplin and Chris Diamantopoulos and a timeline that skips from the 14th century to today (and everywhere in between).
Following up his monumental “Watchmen,” you can feel that Lindelof just wanted to have some fun, while also making profound observations on humanity, technology and the dangerous way that they are intertwined. It’s a shame that “Mrs. Davis” never caught on, especially since Gilpin, Lindelof and Hernandez seemed eager to do more. If you’ve never seen it (and, honestly, chances are pretty high that you haven’t), you owe it to yourself to give “Mrs. Davis” a whirl. Once you watch it, you’ll wonder why more people weren’t talking about it.
3. “Lost” (2004 – 2010)
When Lindelof was brought onto “Lost,” he was serving backup to co-creator J.J. Abrams, but quickly established that this new show, about a plane full of people who crash onto a mysterious island, was essentially his. (Lindelof would eventually bring on Carlton Cuse to help showrun, and the two became a hive mind, although if Cuse’s post-“Lost” output is any indication, it was Lindelof who continued to steer the ship creatively.)
From this deceptively simple premise, entire universes were formed. Lindelof and Abrams made the ingenious decision to flashback each episode to what the characters were doing before the plane crash, which allowed for them to uncover secret heartbreak, concealed alliances and even bigger hidden truths (like how Terry O’Quinn’s Locke was wheelchair-bound before the crash and can now walk on the island). But aware that an audience could get complicit, Lindelof introduced flash-forwards and, finally, flash-sideways, to parallel existences (this, perhaps the riskiest gambit, was also one of the more emotionally rewarding). But throughout the knotty tangle of mythology – and how the show soon spilled off the television screen and blossomed into a vast, trans-media narrative (yes, we too read “Bad Twin,” the published novel that was based on an in-universe manuscript that washed ashore on the “Lost” beach) – Lindelof knew that the most important thing was the characters and our emotional connection to those characters. Because, really, there was nothing like them. And we still think about them often.
Even if you felt disappointment by the final episode of the show, it’s was hard not to be moved. It transformed television forever, proof that cable-grade shows could air on network TV and that you could challenge the audience and still have them come along for the ride, and we still miss it to this day. Amongst the constellation of “Lost” episodes are some of the greatest installments of television ever, including the Abrams-directed pilot and “The Constant,” an episode so moving just thinking about it makes us well up. And it’s only Lindelof’s third greatest achievement! Holy hell!
2. “Watchmen” (2019)
The success of “The Leftovers,” Lindelof’s follow-up to “Lost,” clearly emboldened him. How else to explain his fearless exploration/continuation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ immortal comic book series, long thought of as one of the medium’s crowning achievements? (At the time, Lindelof referred to it as a “remix.”) Any adaptation of the original comic book, whether it’s in print extensions like “Doomsday Clock” or “Rorschach,” or Zack Snyder’s bombastic big screen adaptation, are usually met with skepticism if not outright hostility. (Moore has distanced himself from any expansion or adaptation, including Lindelof’s series.)
The fact that Lindelof’s “Watchmen” was so widely embraced, eventually winning 11 Primetime Emmys, is a testament to just how special his version is. Taking place years after the events of the comic book, where a white supremacist group known as the Seventh Kavalry has used Rorschach’s journal as their manifesto and Doctor Manhattan has gone underground. This is where Angela Abar (Regina King from “The Leftovers”), one of the lone survivors of a police slaughter known as the White Night, decided to take up vigilantism and, you know, solve a global conspiracy. Along the way, Lindelof hits on the Tulsa massacre, weaves in legacy characters and sprinkles in a bit of the supernatural, along with a searing indictment of race relations in America and the militarized police state. The cast is impeccable (Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jean Smart, Louis Gossett Jr. and Jeremy Irons) and the score (by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) is an all-timer.
The only downside is that the series was one episode too short – we would have loved an hour exploring Hong Chau’s Lady Trieu in more depth. But wanting more is something we rarely feel about television these days. “Watchmen” is an audacious masterpiece and a towering achievement in pop culture. Like it or not, it only adds to the “Watchmen” legacy. It doesn’t detract a thing.
1. “The Leftovers” (2014 – 2017)
Lindelof’s first series after the wild success of “Lost” was “The Leftovers,” which he created with original novelist Tom Perrotta. (Lindelof said that he was drawn to the project because of Stephen King’s review of the book in the New York Times, who described it as “the best ‘Twilight Zone’ episode you never saw.”) Together, they made something born out of the novel but also wholly unique – a stunning, at times uncomfortably so, examination of grief and, more importantly, life.
Justin Theroux stars as the chief of police in a small upstate New England town who has survived what is known as the Sudden Departure but Christians would probably call the Rapture – when 2% of the world’s population just up and vanished. Carrie Coon is the young mother whose entire family disappeared and who falls in love with Theroux’s character. (Theroux’s wife has left the family and joined a doomsday cult called the Guilty Remnant.) Christopher Eccleston is Coon’s brother, a local priest. And, to be honest, the first season of “The Leftovers” is a bit of a slog. It’s grim to the point of being oppressively bleak. Lindelof admitted that he was splitting his time between the first season of the show and his bright Brad Bird sci-fi feature “Tomorrowland” and in the process, both projects suffered.
It honestly didn’t seem like the show would get renewed but then something miraculous happened – it did. And with this renewal, the show found a new sense of purpose. It shape-shifted; moving from New York to Miracle, Texas (a fictional town where nobody departed) and adding flourishes wholly absent from the source material or the first season. It became playful, sometimes even joyful, while still exploring the themes of guilt and grief that the first season mined so well. (Nobody beats the episode where Theroux wakes up in an alternate reality, this time in the role of an international assassin.) When the show was renewed for a third season (even less likely!), things shifted again, this time to Australia, where a cataclysmic flood could be unleashed on the anniversary of the Sudden Departure. There’s also the introduction of a technology that could send you into the universe where the departed currently exist.
It all led to one of the most profound, bittersweet and romantic hours of television, a series finale that, unlike the final installment of “Lost,” was universally praised for its sensitivity and the outstanding performances (particularly from Coon, who gives a heartbreaking monologue about what the other world was like). Against all odds and with adversity at every turn, “The Leftovers” stuck around for three seasons and became one of the most incredible (and incredibly underrated) series of all time. At turns absurd and profound (and often both at the same time), it’s nothing short of a miracle.
