A NEIGHBORHOOD gets caught up in mystery as one couple faces harassment from an anonymous stalker in the miniseries The Watcher.
Brought to viewers by American Horror Story and Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story creator Ryan Murphy, The Watcher features a cast full of recognizable stars.
Who is in the cast of Netflix’s The Watcher?
Based on the actual events chronicled by Reeves Wiedeman’s The Haunting of a Dream House, The Watcher went into development in December 2018.
Frequent collaborators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan signed on as the writers, executive producers, and directors of the program.
Previously, the two teamed up for Glee, Ratched, Halston, and the aforementioned Jeffrey Dahmer project.
Portraying the fictionalized versions of characters based on real-life couple Maria and Derek Broaddus are Oscar nominee Naomi Watts and Blonde actor Bobby Cannavale.
Regarding her role in the show, Naomi shared with DECIDER: “I feel we were in the very trusted hands of Ryan Murphy. He knows this genre so well.
“It was based on this story that could be anyone’s story, really: this family that worked towards achieving this dream, and they got it finally, and then it turning out not the way they expected it to.
“That is something that is so easily imagined for anyone, I think.”
She further said: “Ryan offered this text that was loosely based on this family, and creative license was taken.
“It was important for him to pull out as much tension and mystery as possible and keep an audience engaged.
“But yeah, the responsibility is there. You want to honor it as much as you can.”
Her co-star Bobby Cannavale chimed in with: “The only source for any of that story is that one piece in New York Magazine. That’s it.
“Many people read that story, and it’s a pretty rich story, but in the end, it’s only however many pages it was.
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“My thing is just being faithful to whatever the script is, whatever the person who created this story that we’re trying to tell, and not so much faithful to the actual story.”
Golden Globe-winning actress Mia Farrow and American Pie alum Jennifer Coolidge join the show’s cast as well.
Both stars play two of the neighbors suspected of being The Watcher’s anonymous stalker.
Trying not to give away spoilers, Jennifer told the same publication: “We were getting the scripts just one at a time, so we couldn’t tip off if we were the watcher if we wanted to cause we didn’t know.
“But it ended up being this huge advantage, I thought, because we were in real-time and you could just sort of play.
“You’re getting information so slowly that you could actually play a real person and then do Ryan’s brilliant dialogue.”
She added: “They gave me a really cool part. There was a lot to play, and I like that I was guessing. We’re all written as complicated people.”
With a cast that also includes Tony Award nominees Noma Dumezweni and Margo Martindale, the roster of actors is rounded out by:
- Joe Mantello
- Richard Kind
- Terry Kinney
- Henry Hunter Hall
- Isabel Gravitt
- Luke David Blumm
- Christopher McDonald
- Michael Nouri
- Danny Garcia
- Seth Gabel
- Susan Merson
- Seth Barrish
- Michael Devine
- Stephanie Kurtzuba
- Matthew Del Negro
- Jeffrey Brooks
- Patricia Black
- Kate Skinner
- Anthony Bowden
- Pamela Dunlap
- Brittany Bradford
- Jeff Hiller
How can I watch?
On October 13, 2022, The Watcher was released to Netflix and made available to its subscribers.
The first season consists of seven episodes which are all available to viewers without waits in between episodes.
In a comment to The U.S. Sun, the actual couple that inspired the program called the events a “traumatic experience” and said their family is “trying to move on.”
“There is a mentally unhinged lunatic in that neighborhood.”
What happened to the real Broaddus family?
In The Watcher, Naomi and Bobby’s characters Nora and Dean Brannock are loosely based on Derek and Maria Broaddus.
Derek, Maria, and their family resided in a New Jersey home located at 657 Boulevard, Westfield.
This residence was the target of an anonymous stalker who identified themselves as “The Watcher.”
Time and time again, The Watcher harassed the Broaddus family and threatened harm to Derek, Maria, and their children.
The anonymous creeper sent them their first creepy letter just three days after moving in as it read: “Dearest new neighbor….allow me to welcome you to the neighborhood.
“657 Boulevard has been the subject of my family for decades now and as it approaches its 110th birthday, I have been put in charge of watching and waiting for its second coming.
“My grandfather watched the house in the 1920s and my father watched in the 1960s. It is now my time.”
When Derek and Maria attempted to put the house on the market, the stalker warded off potential buyers by sending them threatening letters too.
The family eventually moved out of the residence, but The Watcher’s identity has never been disclosed or unveiled.