Ryan Murphy seems to have moved on from making content about high school a high school show choir and has remained focused on what he does best: scaring viewers to their core with real-life crime stories. Murphy’s new project The Watcher will premiere on October 13th, just days after Monster: The Jeffrey Dhamer Story became one of the most streamed Netflix shows on the platform.
Following Murphy’s deep dive into the true crime genre, The Watcher will follow the very real and very horrifying true story of the Broaddus family who move into their dream home and begin receiving chilling letters from a stalker who only goes by The Watcher. Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale lead the cast, alongside Emmy-winner Jennifer Coolidge, Mia Farrow, Noma Dumezweni, Joe Mantello, Richard Kind, and Margo Martindale.
In 2014, the couple purchased a New Jersey home for nearly $1.4 million before being served taunting letters and phone calls from a stalker who would request the children’s blood. The stalker in question claimed they looked over the house for decades. The story was chronicled in a 2018 piece in The Cut, which described the family’s horrifying ordeal.
Spoiler alert: The Watcher was never found, though there are many theories online, so it will be interesting to see which one Murphy ran with. Maybe Murphy knows something that we don’t! The house was sold again years later and, so far, there have not been any more stalking incidents there, as far as we know.
On a lighter note, here is a brilliant tour of the house with Coolidge’s character, a real estate agent. Act now! This house will not last!
The Watcher drops on October 13th on Netflix.