Netflix's "compulsively trashy" thriller will return for season 2 after 4 years, here's a first glimpse

Netflix's star-studded thriller The Watcher is gearing up to return to our screens for a second season after a four-year wait, with star Bobby Cannavale spotted on set for the new instalment.

Released in 2022, the first season of the show created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan starred Cannavale and Naomi Watts as Dean and Nora Brannock, a couple moving into what they think is their dream home only to find themselves in a nightmare scenario when threatening letters begin to arrive at their new address.

The show also stars Jennifer Coolidge as the Brannocks' real estate agent Karen Calhoun, as well as Margo Martindale as Maureen and Isabel Gravitt as Ellie Brannock. All are returning for season 2, with Digital Spy obtaining pictures of Cannavale's Dean getting a stack of letters in a new location.

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The character leaves a NYC brownstone and is also pictured with a grocery shopping bag in hand, suggesting that the Brannocks might have left Westfield, New Jersey, as hinted at the end of season one, but The Watcher has followed them to the city.

Loosely based on a real story, the show has earned mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and currently sits at a 54% rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Vulture called it "a suburban-real-estate cautionary tale that knows what scares you" and "what obsesses you", while The Hollywood Reporter slammed it as a "forgettable miniseries" adapting an "unforgettable true story".

Elsewhere, The Age wrote: "It's all a bit heightened and hysterical, but engaging enough if you don’t take it too seriously."

Meanwhile, film-authority.com branded The Watcher one of Netflix's "more compulsively trashy mystery dramas" – and that's saying something.

The Watcher season 1 is streaming on Netflix. A second season is in production.

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Reporter, Digital Spy

Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy. 

Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).