The Watchmen finale left a few lingering loose ends to address, like the elephant Lady Trieu used to help save Angela Abar after her nostalgia overdose. Showrunner Damon Lindelof won't necessarily explain that scene, but he did address some of the existing fan theories.
In the episode titled "An Almost Religious Awe," Angela wakes up from her nostalgia-fueled coma and begins to unravel the hows and the whys of her current situation. As she follows the tube connected to her arm, trying to find the "natural host" on the other end, she finds a sleeping elephant.
"Have we revealed or explained it? No, I think that all the explanation that we’re willing to offer is, in show, in Lady Trieu’s tutorial, for the process of removing Will’s memories, from Angela, and placing them into a host, which is the elephant," Lindelof told Collider. "But, in terms of why an elephant? I think, that some of the theorizing that I’ve seen online is very accurate, in terms of what our intention was."
"Also, just on a personal level, I think that the original Watchmen had a sense of play, and punnery," he continued. "And, I think that the idea of an elephant never forgetting, or needing to talk about the elephant in the room. And, the elephant being the symbol of the mythical Lady Trieu. And, all the things that an elephant represents. Those were all significant parts of our thinking, too. So, the idea that there is some big mystery underlying that choice, is not accurate. Everything I just described to you, is sort of why we made the choice that we did."
Developed by Damon Lindelof, HBO's Watchmen stars Jeremy Irons, Regina King, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Jean Smart, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Tom Mison, James Wolk, Adelaide Clemens, Andrew Howard, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, Lily Rose Smith and Adelynn Spoon.