'The Watcher' Debuts Chilling Trailer for True-Crime Stalker Series Starring Naomi Watts

naomi watts the watcher
Netflix

Ryan Murphy’s latest Netflix series recounts the infamous story surrounding a New Jersey home. 

Following the recent debut of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Ryan Murphy is back with another true-crime scripted drama called The Watcher. On Saturday, during Tudum: A Netflix Global Fan Event, the streaming platform debuted the first, chilling trailer for the stalker series starring Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Jennifer Coolidge and Mia Farrow

Not long after moving into a beautiful house in Westfield, New Jersey, Dean (Cannavale) and Nora Brannock (Watts) receive a letter reading, “I’ve been put in charge of watching you.” An ominous voice then takes over, saying, “This message will not be the last. I am the watcher,” as the trailer teases the terror to come as their dream home becomes the center of a waking nightmare.  

Based on real-life events first reported by New York Magazine, the series created by Murphy and Ian Brennan recounts what happened to a family after they were stalked by a mysterious person, who kept sending ominous letters to the house. But that’s not the only strange thing making their idyllic situation less than ideal. 

According to Netflix, “there’s a kooky older woman named Pearl (Farrow) and her brother Jasper (Terry Kinney), who sneaks into the Brannock’s house and hides in their dumbwaiter. There’s Karen (Coolidge), the realtor and an old acquaintance of Nora’s, who makes them feel like they don’t really belong, and nosy neighbors Mitch (Richard Kind) and Mo (Margo Martindale), who don’t seem to understand property lines.”

And it’s not long before the Brannock family reaches “their breaking point as the neighborhood’s sinister secrets come spilling out.” 

When it comes to reuniting with Murphy, Coolidge tells ET the notorious TV producer “is incredible.” The Watcher marks their third project together after she previously appeared on Glee and Nip/Tuck. “But this scary stuff is really exciting for me, I don’t get asked to do that very often,” she says of the new series, which “has a pretty amazing cast.” 


The Watcher premieres Thursday, Oct. 13 on Netflix. 

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