Netflix's 'The Watcher' Starts Season 2 Production This Fall

Netflix has set Season 2 of "The Watcher" to begin production this fall in New York, four years after the mystery horror series first aired in October 2022.

Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Margo Martindale, and Isabel Gravitt will all return and reprise their Season 1 roles, the streamer announced.

The long gap is notable. Netflix originally conceived "The Watcher" as a limited series, then renewed it for a second season in November 2022 alongside "Monster," the other show from the Ryan Murphy–Ian Brennan partnership. The fourth season of "Monster," focused on Lizzie Borden, launched recently, while "The Watcher" has sat dormant.

Murphy and Brennan created the series and both serve as executive producers, with Brennan acting as showrunner. Crystle Roberson Dorsey directs and executive produces. The executive producer roster also includes Nissa Diederich, Karl Frankenfield, Scott Robertson, Todd Kubrak, Tanase Popa, Watts, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, and Eric Newman and Bryan Unkeless.

The series is loosely based on a true story of a family that buys a new home and begins receiving mysterious letters from someone calling themselves The Watcher. That premise proved a commercial powerhouse. "The Watcher" tallied 125 million hours viewed in its first week on Netflix, rising to 148 million hours in its second week. It spent five weeks on the Netflix global top 10 English-language TV chart.

Whether the show can repeat that performance after such a delayed return is an open question. Recent industry reporting has documented Netflix shows losing significant viewership between their first and second seasons, and a four-year layoff tests even loyal audiences. Watts's expanded role as executive producer, alongside her return as star, signals her continued investment in the franchise as production gears up in New York.