Netflix is staying in business with Ryan Murphy. Following the breakout success of Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the streamer has ordered two more Monster seasons. The Watcher was also renewed for a second season.
The next seasons of Monster will tell “stories of other monstrous figures who have impacted society,” Netflix said Monday, reports The Hollywood Reporter. This means Monster will become an anthology series, similar to Murphy’s hit FX shows American Horror Story and American Crime Story. It’s unclear if The Watcher will go with this format as well since the first season had an open-ending so the show could continue its story.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“Audiences can’t take their eyes off Monster and The Watcher. The creative team of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan on Monster along with Eric Newman on The Watcher are masterful storytellers who captivated audiences all over the world,” Netflix head of global TV Bela Bajaria said Monday. “The back-to-back force of these two series is due to Ryan’s distinct original voice which created cultural sensations, and we are thrilled to continue telling stories in the Monster and Watcher universes.”
Murphy created Monster with Ian Brennan, his collaborator on Glee, The Politician, and Scream Queens. The first season starred Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer and was an incredible success, despite critics accusing the show of glamorizing the serial killer. It is the third-most watched show in Netflix’s history, racking up 856 million hours of viewing from subscribers in its first four weeks, of release, according to the streamer. Only Squid Game and Stranger Things 4 had more hours in their first four weeks. Netflix subscribers have watched over 934 million hours of Dahmer since Nov. 1, the streamer said.
The Watcher, also created by Murphy and Brennan, was based on the New York Magazine article “The Haunting of a Dream House” by Reeves Wiedeman. It centers on a married couple (Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale) who are harassed by a stalker after they move into their dream home. The Watcher was not met with the same critical acclaim as Dahmer, but audiences still flocked to the show. The series logged about 341 million hours of viewing worldwide in the 18 days after its Oct. 13 release.
Dahmer and The Watcher gave Murphy the hits at Netflix he had been searching for since he signed up with the streamer in July 2018. Before these two shows, his other projects – Hollywood, The Politician, Ratched, and Halston – all failed to draw the same attention his FX projects had. After Murphy announced plans to develop two more American Story shows – American Love Story and American Sports Story – for Disney, there were rumors that he would go back there after his Netflix deal expires in July 2023. However, the renewals of Monster and The Watcher confirm he will still be in business with Netflix, even if he does choose to leave.
