Goodbye, Lube Man. Goodbye, eggs. Goodbye, glass masks. Most importantly, goodbye Yahya Abdul-Mateen in his most thirst-inducing, godlike performance yet. Watchmen, despite earning serious critical acclaim and ending its season one finale on a major cliff-hanger, isn’t coming back to HBO for a second season after all.

HBO programming chief Casey Bloys revealed as much to USA Today on Wednesday, telling the outlet that the network isn’t interested in pursuing a second season without creator Damon Lindelof at the helm.

“It’s really in Damon’s thinking about what he wants to do,” Bloys said. “If there’s an idea that excited him about another season, another installment, maybe like a Fargo, True Detective [anthology] take on it, or if he wants to do something different altogether. We’re very proud of Watchmen, but what I’m most interested in what Damon wants to do.”

However, Lindelof confirmed to USA Today that, again, he has no interest in a second season, but has “given my blessing” to HBO if they wanted to take a crack at it anyway. However, Bloys said that without Lindelof, that’s a no-go. “It would be hard to imagine doing it without Damon involved in some way.” Lindelof, for his part, left at least a little bit of room open when speaking to Vanity Fair in December: “When I show back up in January, hopefully the antenna will be back up again. If it receives something that feels like it could be another season of Watchmen, I would definitely be inclined to pursue it. There is no guarantee of if and when that’ll happen.” But for now, it seems like a permanent exit.

So, that’s that. Hope you liked it while you had it. Remember way back when, when the main concern was how the show would move forward if star Regina King, who only signed on for one season, decided to go elsewhere? Simpler times. Besides, those fears were ultimately dashed back in December, when King said she would “absolutely” do a second season.

“Yes, I would absolutely,” she said when asked by Vulture about starring in more Watchmen. But then she continued, foreshadowing this very predicament that Watchmen fans find themselves in: “I know that Damon doesn’t even kinda have an idea of an entry point and an ending for a second season. And I know he wouldn’t come onboard for a second season unless he did. I don’t want there to be a second season if it’s not going to at least be comparable to this first season, which is going to be really hard to do.”

Perhaps the only person soothed by this news is Watchmen author Alan Moore, who has been famously ornery about adaptations of his watershed graphic novel. As such, he’s not involved with the HBO series at all. “My book is a comic book,” he said in a 2005 interview. “Not a movie, not a novel. A comic book. It’s been made in a certain way, and designed to be read a certain way: in an armchair, nice and cozy next to a fire, with a steaming cup of coffee.” Well, that certainly sounds like a nice way to mourn the death of the series.