HBO’s Watchmen Reveals What Happened to Nite Owl

Tonight’s Watchmen episode, “She Was Killed by Space Junk,” just aired on HBO and finally saw the arrival of Jean Smart as Laurie Blake, the Watchmen comics’ own Silk Spectre. Fans finally have an idea of what happened to the remaining members of the Crimebusters, the second group of Watchmen heroes who disbanded in the ’70s. Doctor Manhattan is still on Mars, Laurie has become an FBI agent, and Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias was finally confirmed to be Jeremy Irons‘ character, who is living a mysterious existence in a mansion among a set of clones. That just leaves Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl, who had a romance with Laurie after her and Doctor Manhattan broke up in the ’80s. Tonight’s episode followed Laurie and gave some hints to Dan’s whereabouts.

Warning: Watchmen Spoilers Ahead…

During the new episode, Laurie is visited by Senator Keene Jr. (James Wolk), who attempts to get her to come to Tulsa to work the case of Judd Crawford’s (Don Johnson) murder. During the visit, the Senator takes a peek at Laurie’s pet owl, named Who. When Laurie initially declines the request to work the case, she makes a comment about how if things don’t get resolved, Keene Jr.’s dreams of becoming president won’t happen. The Senator then replies with the following:

“You know, Laurie, the president can pardon anybody he wants. Anybody. He could even get your owl out of that cage.”

It’s clear he’s not talking about the pet owl, but rather Dan, who was arrested in 1995 for violating the Keene Act, which outlawed “costumed adventuring.” According to the show’s tie-in website, Peteypedia, Laurie and Dan continued their vigilantism with the former taking on a new name, The Comedienne, after her late father. It appears after their capture, Laurie cut a deal and gained immunity by becoming an FBI agent. Dan, however, is still in custody after all of those years, refusing to discuss the events of Watchmen or confirm the writings in Rorschach’s journal.

The big question now is whether to not we’ll see Nite Owl at some point on the show. In an interview with IGN, the series’ creator, Damon Lindelof, confirmed the character won’t be showing up this season, but that doesn’t mean he won’t appear in the future.

Would you like to see Nite Owl show up on Watchmen? Tell us in the comments!

Watchmen airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.