'The Watcher' Season 2 finally kicks off at Netflix, 4 years after its renewal - USA Today
Ryan Murphy fans will have a turn to be "watchers" once again.
Netflix announced Friday, Oct. 2, that Murphy's creepy true crime drama series "The Watcher" has finally started production on its second season, with stars Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Margo Martindale and Isabel Gravitt all returning to reprise their original roles.
The show first streamed in 2022 for an eight-episode season, and was later renewed for a second season in November of that year. However, no movement on the series was publicly shared until Friday, a whopping four years later.
The first season of the series tells the story of a picture-perfect family, that moves into a picturesque suburban house, only to be terrorized by a mysterious letter-writer known as "The Watcher." Watts and Cannavale led the series as the married couple who pour their financial future into their dream home, only to have it turn into a nightmare.
Murphy produced the series, along with longtime collaborator Ian Brennan. The show hit No. 1 on Netflix's domestic top 10 TV shows list the day after it premiered, and spent five weeks on the international English TV list.
Netflix announced that production on Season 2 would begin this fall in New York, likely meaning a 2027 premiere date. The streamer did not announce any plot details about the new season, or if any other cast members would return. Mia Farrow, Richard Kind and Jennifer Coolidge all also appeared in the original season.
The first season was based on an incident that really happened in Westfield, New Jersey, in 2014. Several days after Maria and Derek Broaddus closed on their new, nearly 4,000-square-foot home, they received a letter from someone who claimed his family had been watching it for years. The Broadduses purchased the house for $1.3 million to raise their three children, not far from where Maria Broaddus grew up. Many disturbing letters, lawsuits, town meetings and lost money later, the Broadduses sold the house in 2019. The real Watcher was never found.
Murphy and Brennan most recently released "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story" on Netflix (now streaming), focusing on the infamous Borden and two deaths that shocked a nation: the butchering of her wealthy father, Andrew Borden, and her stepmother, Abby Borden. The series, starring Ella Beatty as the titular murderer, has spent two weeks atop the Netflix list.
