Season 2 of 'The Watcher': What Could Happen?

Despite its controversial, unresolved ending, The Watcher will return for another season. Netflix has renewed the fictionalized true-crime show for another season, after fans and hate watchers in equal measure made the series one of the streamers' biggest debuts ever with 125 million hours watched in its first five days, per Deadline. Based on the 2018 New York Magazine article, the show follows a family who move to a dream suburban home only to begin receiving creepy, threatening letters from a stalker called The Watcher.

The show was originally billed as a limited series, and now it joins series like HBO and HBO Max's Big Little Lies, The Flight Attendant, and The White Lotus, which produced seasons of middling, impressive, and as-of-now-unknown quality. Could The Watcher reach its full potential in its second installment? No, because it's already reached its full chaotic potential, and it reached its desired outcome. The quality will be around the same, though they can make some changes to keep viewers engrossed. Do we need another season? No, but high ratings mean money, but Netflix is gonna Netflix. So here's what we know about the forthcoming season, and what could come next for the story.

Will the series continue to follow the Brannock family?

Season 1 ended without revealing the identity of the Watcher, following the real-life case's unsolved status. Dean and Nora Brannock (Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts) have moved out of 657 Boulevard and sold it at a loss to an LLC owned by their shifty realtor Karen (Jennifer Coolidge). Karen moved in and immediately started remodeling, with her pink marble countertops pissing off the Watcher (and the neighborhood historical society) enough that she ran out of the house screaming after a horror-filled night. A new family then moved into the house, to be observed by the entire community of Westfield, including Dean, who never got over losing the property.

The traditional route for a second season would see the show following either the Brannocks or the new family themselves as they face off against a Watcher, with a range of possible true identities now expanded to include Dean himself. Dean as the new family's Watcher could actually be very interesting if the house and its place in the community becomes more of a spectre or a curse. Then it wouldn't matter who the Brannocks' Watcher was, because instead the previous victims have taken up the mantle, creating a never-ending cycle (or ending if Dean actually makes any progress in therapy).

That would be the most interesting possible storyline. We've seen enough of the Brannocks, and all of them but Dean have settled back into their city lives. The show killed off the only character I found interesting throughout the entire show (R.I.P. Nora), but Maureen, Pearl, Jasper, Roger Kaplan, and "John Graff" are good in their roles as neighborhood antagonists. Still, unless the new family and whatever side characters they introduce are breaths of fresh air, a second season in the same Westfield will probably continue to be frustrating.

Will we get a 'Watcher' anthology universe?

Any show that's part of the Ryan Murphy universe has some chance of becoming an anthology. In fact, the show whose renewal was announced in the same statement, Monster, will now be an anthology focusing on "other monstrous figures who have impacted society." As for The Watcher, eagle-eyed fans noticed an interesting details in the renewal statement from Bela Bajaria, the Head of Global TV for Netflix: 

"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. 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."

That "Watcher universe" hints that the show could go beyond focusing on a new family living at 657 Boulevard, and actually become an anthology itself. This possibility is exciting for a few different reasons. 1) Location change. Tell me you wouldn't a Florida-set season of The Watcher with the same anxious obsession as Love Is Blind. 2) Entirely new characters that have their own set of neuroses, and maybe slightly switching the Watcher's M.O. They can make the letters even more unnerving somehow.

The most important possibility: IT CAN HAVE AN ACTUAL ENDING. Some people were cool with the unknown nature of the ending. I was not (again, largely because of the Nora bait-and-switch). The show made us incredibly paranoid of everyone in town to the point where the paranoia became annoyance. We need an outlet for all those hours of watching and caring. They tried an unknown ending. For season 2, give us an actual Watcher!

When will 'The Watcher' season 2 come out?

Season 1 was renewed pretty quickly on the Netflix timeline, so it's very likely that the streamer will want another season to come out within a year or so of the first. Considering Ryan Murphy and co.'s near-superhuman production schedule on all their shows, we should very likely look out for Season 2 by the end of 2023.